Mexico City, Thursday July 16, 2009.-In the framework of the V Anniversary of the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) was held in conjunction with the National Academy of Medicine, the Keynote Lecture “Individualized Medicine: Promises and Challenges" by Dr. David Valle, Director of theMckusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, USA.
This conference was presented by Dr. Edison T. Liu, President of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) and Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore and attended by Dr. Manuel Ruiz de Chavez, President of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Guillermo Soberon , Executive Chairman of the National Bioethics Commission, Dr. Maria Elena Medina Mora, Director General, National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente, Dr. Gerardo Jimenez Sanchez, Director General of INMEGEN, and members of the scientific and academic community of Mexico.
Dr. Edison T. Liu noted that more than five years ago, the government of Mexico had a very visionary action to invest in genomics leading to what is now INMEGEN, an institution that has become the voice in genetics and genomics in Mexico and Latin America that is occupying an important place in the international field.
Dr. Valley stated his involvement as an adviser to the birth of INMEGEN, which in 5 years from its inception has made great contributions in genomic medicine, the Mexican Genome Diversity Project is an example. He also noted the progress that has taken what he termed as individualized medicine, which deals with the chemical individuality, understood as the biochemical characteristics that determine a person's genetic individuality.
TDr. Valle also stressed that the twentieth century medicine is based on the premise that no two patients are exactly alike and that is why progress is based in understanding the role of genes in the onset of disease. The present situation regarding health confronts us to: a growing chronic degenerative diseases, find the right medication and dosage for each patient, a growth in expenditure, and the demand by patients for a doctor more specialized.
For these reasons, Dr. Valle explained that some of the challenges of genomic medicine are: identify all genetic variants that contribute to health and illness, understanding the biological consequences of these variants and how they interact with each individual, identify relevant environmental variables and their interaction with the genome of the individual and put that information in an accessible format.
Dr. Valle concluded that there has undoubtedly been amazing progress in medicine over the past two decades, but the road to individualized medicine is slow. In the future it is hoped that it can sequence the genome of each person at the beginning of his life and hence extract medically significant variants which form part of the record of the patient and assist the clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
Finally, Dr. Jimenez said that in these 5 years INMEGEN has fully met its 2004-2009 work program: more than 45 research projects underway, 73 students in courses, 117 students in temporary residence, 628 visitors to INMEGEN. He concluded by thanking Dr. Valle for his brilliant presentation and all those institutions that are connected through the online system.
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