Infinitely closer
Advances in biomedical science, computer science and imaging now allow doctors to delve into the most basic building blocks of the human body -- DNA.
Last year, U.S. scientists completed the Human Genome Project, successfully mapping the entire human genetic code by determining the exact order of all 3.1 billion base pairs of DNA. Now that our genetic makeup has been defined, investigators have already linked particular genes with certain diseases like breast cancer, colon cancer, cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's. The next frontier challenges us to sleuth how those genes work, how they interact with other genes in the body, as well as with factors in the environment.
Many believe it is only a matter of time before haunting killers like cancer will not only be curable but preventable. Already, the University of Cincinnati's Dr. Stephen Liggett has discovered a way to predict how asthma patients will react to certain drugs based solely on their DNA. He and doctors at UC have even engineered a mouse that is genetically resistant to asthma, the first step toward a potential gene-based therapy for humans. Liggett and pioneers like him are paving the way to the era of ultimate personalized medicine.
Donald Harrison, senior vice president and provost for health affairs at the UC Medical Center, predicts genetic research will fuel a biomedical revolution in this country. And he expects the University of Cincinnati to take a front-row seat in the discovery.
Harrison says the biomedical industry, unlike the computer and telecommunications areas, which concentrated mostly along the two coasts, will drive economic development in a dozen or more regions throughout the nation. For Cincinnati to capitalize, however, it will take vital participation by UC and hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
"We need to create a research institute that is heavily linked to industry with the ability to create new companies," Harrison says. "Basic research will drive economic development for this entire region."
Bio/Start, a UC-based incubator for biomedical companies, has already helped researchers start up 15 companies, ventures that allowed scientists in the academic world to move their innovations from the laboratory into a profitable local company. That entrepreneurial spirit is a positive force on campus, but the key to being a part of the biomedical revolution is recruiting the best scientists who can attract research dollars.
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