Medical science is undergoing a significant revolution, as documented by the increased life expectancy. The traditional approach to diagnosing and treating many human diseases is gradually evolving from a generalized conception of health and disease to an individualized approach entailing decisions and interventions tailored to the single patient according to individual responses or risk of disease. In the past, Medicine was practiced according to the signs and symptoms presented by the patient and was solely based on the individual knowledge of the physician. Currently, Medicine is based on the evidence produced by scientific research, including clinical trials, and it is known as evidence-based medicine. In the immediate future, Medicine will be tailored to the individual patient. The advances in science and technology led to a dramatic increase in our understanding of human pathophysiology, providing the basis for the development of the Precision Medicine.
Precision Medicine represents an innovative approach, which takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person to ensure the most appropriate health care for each patient. Precision Medicine allows guiding health care decisions toward the most effective treatment for a given patient, and thus, improves care quality while reducing the need for unnecessary diagnostic testing and therapies.
The significant advancement of high-throughput technologies and diagnostic techniques, as well as the development of “omics” unveiled the molecular basis of many disorders. Understanding the differences associated with a disease at different levels, including the genome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome represents the basis for Precision Medicine. The translation of a patient- specific molecular mechanism into personalized clinical applications is a challenge, which requires the integration of multi-dimensional molecular and clinical data into patient-centric models.
Laboratory Medicine is an indispensable discipline generating precious information for healthcare processes and it will play a pivotal role in the integration of Precision Medicine in routine health care. Indeed, Laboratory Medicine can provide a wide panel of genetic, epigenetic, and biochemical markers for defining the individual profile to get a “personal” description of the patient status. According to the patient profile, we can tailor the right therapeutic strategy for the right person at the right time, and/or to determine the predisposition to disease and/or to deliver timely and targeted prevention.
The school will give the opportunity to the Researchers from all over the world to present and discuss the advances of Precision Medicine, aiming at promoting the incorporation of the research into patient care, and educate and advocate for the practice of Precision Medicine.