GEN is on the scene at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego. Here are more highlights from the conference:

“In 5 to 10 years, you will have your genomes as part of your medical records,” Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., Institute for Systems Biology, told attendees of the World Stem Cell Summit 2013 today, in San Diego. “Third-generation sequencing will be revolutionary,” he said in his plenary keynote “Systems Approaches to Disease and Stem Cells”; using nanopore technology it will enable sequencing of a human genome in about 15 minutes at a cost of less than $100.

In the Systems Medicine concept described by Dr. Hood the genome will be only one part of the “billions of data points that will surround patients in the next 5–10 years.” These will derive from existing and emerging technologies including third-generation sequencing, global and targeted mass spectrometry for proteomic analysis, and quantitative single-cell analytical methods. Genomic, epigenomic, miRNAomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data will contribute to the characterization of disease-perturbed networks that can serve as the basis for developing models of disease and wellness.

Ultimately, by applying systems medicine to enable very early disease detection and monitor disease progression, the huge amount of data surrounding each individual can be used to maintain them on a track of wellness or transition them from disease back to wellness.

The future “wellness industry” will likely exceed in size the medical industry,” predicts Dr. Hood.

For more from the World Stem Cell Summit, be sure to check out “Neural Precursors ‘Cure MS’ in Mice“, “Mary Ann Liebert Wins Stem Cell Education Award“, $1M Award to Develop a Replacement Liver Announced“, Stem Cell Leaders Call for Human Embryome Project“, and “World Stem Cell Summit: December 4, 2013 Update“.

Also, watch our video “A Brief History of Stem Cells” to see a timeline spanning over 60 years of stem cell research. 

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