Advances in Genomic Medicine 'Unstoppable' - February 26, 2016 report

medscape

LA JOLLA, California — Gene editing, liquid biopsies for cancer, and the latest moves by industry leaders driving the democratization of genomic information will be among the highlights of the Future of Genomic Medicine (FOGM) IX conference.

And each day of the 2-day event will start with a patient story. "The patient stories are compelling and they really set the stage for this program and what genomic medicine is all about," said course director Eric Topol, MD, from the Scripps Translational Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who is editor-in-chief of Medscape.

Another patient who will tell her story at the conference is Elisa Long, PhD, from the University of California, Los Angeles, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33. She had no family history or other major risk factors, but turned out to carry the BRCA mutation.

The irony, Dr Topol explained, is that she is an assistant professor of decisions, operations, and technology management, and her research is focused on the way people make medical decisions when faced with uncertainty.

"Genomics, gradually, is getting into medicine in a big way, but there are still major hurdles to overcome. We'll get into those from the patient perspective," said Dr Topol.

Cancer MoonShot

An update on the newly formed Cancer MoonShot 2020 initiative will be presented by Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, chief executive officer of NantHealth. Accelerating the collaboration among researchers working to activate the immune system in the fight against cancer is central to the mission of the initiative.

Cancer genomics will be looked at from many different perspectives, particularly the liquid biopsy, "which is the hottest topic of all in cancer," Dr Topol reported.