Larry Gold and the team at SOMAlogic is doing some incredible work, using the key innovation of aptamers (RNA molecules that naturally attach to proteins, and using them as nanodetectors to pick up thousands of proteins on a chip, based on urine or blood samples.
This goes beyond genomics (studying individual patients based on the genes in their DNA) to proteomics (studying individual samples from patients for the proteins being produced AT THAT MOMENT). The key insight here is that genes are inherited, a one time snapshot of your makeup. Proteins are being made every instant, and we now know that these proteins can be shut down or overproduced, in response to environment, age, stress, diet, many different factors.
Suddenly there is opportunity to study what might PREDICT a heart attack, or onset of a new disease (diabetes, etc) based on the proteins detectable in your blood sample TODAY.
CMIO’s take? Information systems do better when there’s more data. Incorporating genomic data into clinical decisions is cutting edge. Incorporating PROTEIN expression of the moment into clinical decisions is a near-future dream, that some would call bleeding edge, or perhaps clotting edge…
