I don't know how I missed this! Wow.... In my always humble opinion, I think that no one should be allowed to say the words "precision medicine" before reading this paper and passing a quiz on it's contents.
Is there a phrase as important as precision medicine that has been abused more in the last few years? What's it even mean? It certainly seems to mean votes for some politicians...and then some vague stuff....this is the best definition I've seen -- and, in particular, what it means for us and proteomics as we continue to demonstrate that we're all grown up now -- let us back into the clinic. Yes, we know, we said this before -- but for real this time!
The big things here is pointing out the diseases where the genetics aren't useful. Sure, you can have a predisposition toward some cardiac issues, but lifestyle has a huge and obvious part in that (says the guy who just had the best cheesesteak in Pennsylvania) and it is protein and or small molecule markers that indicate that problems are coming. Same thing with more and more of these brain diseases. They're protein stuff. Wait. Holy shit. I've forgotten to blog about the recent Bateman lab papers...that group is killing it and they seem to have markers that can predict Alzheimer's WAY in advance. Seriously, before any other assays can detect any symptoms. These assays are going to get out there fast. They're too powerful and too well developed.
For real, if you're thinking of trying to score some of the precision medicine grants out there with a mass spec, check this out. Make sure you aren't going after a disease where the established assays or PCR or something makes more sense. Even if we come up with a smarter, cheaper or faster way to do a test, there is a lot of activation energy required to push the medical industry mountain forward. If we come in and tackle the stuff that only LCMS can do? That's how more of us get our feets... W
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