Genome Medicine: Bridging the gap between research and clinical practice

[Guest guest]

Genome Medicine: Bridging the gap between research and clinical

practice

Today, BioMed Central's premier open access medical journal Genome

Medicine has officially launched with the publication of its January

2009 issue.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-01/bc-gm012609.php

Genomic medicine is at the leading edge of medical advances and is

one of fastest growing areas of biomedical research. Our growing

understanding of the human genome and proteome is making it possible

to identify the genetic changes that underlie human disease, and to

offer a new set of tools for diagnosis and treatment.

Technological innovations are bringing us ever closer to an era of

personalized medicine, in which treatment plans are optimized

according to the genetic makeup of the individual and the

characterization of their particular problem. Earlier diagnoses,

improved prevention, and reduced risk of adverse side effects are

just some of the benefits that are anticipated from this next

generation of medicine.

The launch of Genome Medicine as an open access journal ensures that

information on the latest research advances are available not just to

researchers, but also to physicians and their patients around the

globe, providing up-to-date information that will affect medical

treatments.

Progress in genomic medicine will depend on effective collaboration

between basic researchers and clinicians. Genome Medicine will

feature a column, " Musings on Genome Medicine " , written jointly by Dr

G , a leading physician, and Dr Stuart Orkin, a

geneticist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The first column

examines the significance of genome-wide association studies,

suggesting that while these studies are useful, the hundreds of

millions of dollars spent on them have not allowed us to discover

strong links between genetic variants and the risk for the majority

of common diseases, and it is not at all clear that useful therapies

will emerge from the associations that have been made. The column

goes on to suggest that researchers must always focus most of their

resources on experiments that are ultimately, most likely to

contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of

health and disease.

The journal emphasizes research into the clinical use of new genomic

diagnostics and therapeutics. The practice of genomic medicine brings

with it a wide range of challenging ethical, social, and legal

questions, and Genome Medicine has a special section focused on these

areas. In the launch issue, Caulfield and colleagues discuss

the practical and ethical challenges of using information relating to

ethnicity and ancestry in medical research and warn 'Given the

potential for misinterpretation and misapplication of research

findings, great care must be used in the characterization of study

samples and the interpretation of observations', noting that 'such

rigor is often absent in the reporting of race and ethnicity in the

biomedical literature'.

All disciplines of medical research are likely to be profoundly

affected by the genomic approaches and technologies currently under

development, and an understanding of developments in these areas is

increasingly important to the effective practice of medicine. The new

open access journal Genome Medicine will give scientists, clinicians

and patients the information they need to make sense of this rapidly

changing field.

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1. Genome Medicine (http://genomemedicine.com/) is an online peer-

reviewed journal which publishes open access research articles of

outstanding quality in all areas of medicine studied from a genomic

or post-genomic perspective. The journal will have a special focus on

the latest technologies and findings that impact on the understanding

and management of human health and disease.

2. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science,

Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open

access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles

published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely

accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and

reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a

leading global publisher in the STM sector.