MIT Innovation Club: Future of the Personalized Medicine/Consumer Genomics

MIT has a club called the "MIT Innovation Club." Every few months, the club tackles different topics. Here's a little snippet about the club:

Mirroring MIT’s motto of “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”), the MIT Innovation Club seeks to understand innovation as a science and practice of generating and implementing new ideas.

The Innovation Club was founded in 2003 to celebrate over 130 years of MIT innovation and to challenge the students of today to keep inventing the future. In this pursuit, the Club engages students, faculty, and the business community through interactive programs such as Tech Testbeds, IdeaExchange brainstorms, Innovation Labs, and more.

The Club helps its 250+ members generate innovative ideas, identify target applications for new technologies, and develop the skills that can make a difference between success and failure in a start-up or an established company. The balance of our intellectual and practical endeavors makes us the Club that is very much about “where ideas create value.” For more information about the MIT Innovation Club, please explore this website, participate in our activities, or contact us.

For the months of January/February 2010, the topic is: "Future of the Personalized Medicine/Consumer
Genomics"

Sounds quite interesting, doesn't it? I love the MIT culture. If I had some spare time, I'd love to get involved on this topic. Unfortunately, I am simply so busy that I will have to pass on this one. As we advance in medical technology, we will only hear more about topics like personalized medicine and human genomics. Drugs will be tailored for each individual's genomic makeup. Diseases will be prevented or treated with gene therapy. Your diagnosis won't require the traditional H&P (history & physical) anymore. Instead, you'll get a "molecular genetic scan" that will get processed into a computer that will generate a report indicating what problems/conditions/diseases you currently have, what you may develop in the future, and what can be done to treat and prevent these problems. Sounds like science fiction, but it could be right around the corner if you put enough MIT brains behind this.