Personalized Medicine

Personalized Medicine takes the precise genetic make-up of an individual into account when understanding disease pathogenesis and when designing therapeutic strategies. By matching therapies to the disease in an individual patient, physicians aim to improve drug efficacy, reduce adverse drug effects, and ensure that an evidence-based plan is employed to benefit the patient. 

The Department of Genetic Medicine has a long track record of employing cutting-edge next-generation sequencing technologies to characterize the entire genome, organ- and cell-specific gene expression, epigenetic modulation of gene expression, and patient-specific efficacy of drugs (pharmacogenomics). With a primary focus on diseases of the lung, the Department of Genetic Medicine is investigating factors that account for differential response to smoking (cigarette/e-cigarette/waterpipe) and the development of lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), systemic scleroderma (SSc), chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP), and asthma. Our department chair, Ronald G. Crystal played key roles in developing alpha-1 antitrypsin protein therapy for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, DNase therapy for cystic fibrosis, and has contributed an immense amount of basic science knowledge to the field of Pulmonary Medicine.