Overview

Advances in genome sciences research focused in healthcare are already leading to new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools for use in personalized medicine. These technologies will substantially improve healthcare services and permit more rapid and accurate diagnosis of life-threatening disorders.

Most developed countries are struggling with the escalating costs of healthcare caused by the increasing costs of new life-saving diagnostics and treatments, aging populations, a rising incidence of chronic diseases and the absence of integrated informatics solutions for effective healthcare delivery.    

British Columbia’s healthcare infrastructure has benefited from investments in medical research and the outcomes are supporting the development of new medical technologies that use information from genome science to provide a more accurate diagnosis and to ensure that patients receive the right treatment at the right time, which is the foundation for personalized medicine.

Genome BC’s funded programs and projects have played an important role in medical research and Genome BC is now poised to contribute to the translation of this new knowledge into clinical practice.

Genome BC’s current translational research projects in human health:

• Antisense PET imaging of mRNA expression
• Biomarkers in transplantation
• Canadian Pediatric Cancer Genome Consortium
• Clinical Implementation of Diagnostic Biomarker Assays in Heart and Kidney Transplantation
• Characterizing a bacterial recombinome
• Development of a gene expression-based high-throughput screening platform for human T regulatory cell differentiation
• Finding of Rare Disease Genes in Canada (FORGE Canada)
• Linking Infectious Agents and Cancer – A Metagenomics Approach
• Functional Characterization of the Transcriptional Network Driving Mammalian Brain Development
• Genomics Applied to the Management of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
• Impact of the Microbiota on Immune Development and Disease
• Implementation of a Pharmacogenetic ADR Prevention Program in BC
• IND Enabling Studies for a DMT1 Inhibitor - A Novel Therapeutic Approach for Treatment of Iron Overload Disorders
• Optimization of Pyruvate Kinase Inhibitor Lead Compounds as Novel Therapeutics for the Treatment of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Infections
• Stratifying and Targeting Pediatric Medulloblastoma Through Genomics
• Translating genomic discoveries into therapeutic cancer vaccines
• Using Methods of Chemical Genomics for Developing Potent Androgen Receptor Inhibitors with a Novel Mode of Action
• Vaginal Microbiome Team

Click here to read about Genome BC’s completed research projects in human health.