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.

Stem cell therapy out of a James Bond movie

I'm reminded of a James Bond movie where a certain "health clinic" in Cuba offers gene therapy (among other things) that would probably never be allowed in the U.S.

According to CNN, Dr. Zannos Grekos has a company in the Dominican Republic called Regenocyte Therapeutic. He claims that he has successfully used adult stem cells to treat patients with heart and lung disease. Hmm, I wonder what else he's up to. Stem cell therapy mixed with some gene therapy to change people's faces and appearances? I wonder if he's using any special face lamps...

Here are some interesting snippets from the CNN story:

Dr. Irving Weissman, president-elect of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, told CNN, "There is no such cell. There is nothing called a 'regenocyte.' " "As a stem cell scientist who works in the field of regenerative stem cells, I am disappointed and shocked that somebody would prey on a family that has an untreatable disease with the promise of a therapy that has no scientific or medical basis," Weissman said.

Grekos (a cardiologist) has a busy practice in Bonita Springs, Florida, outside Naples, and runs a company that promotes and administers stem cell therapies in Santiago, a noisy, crowded industrial city in the central Dominican Republic.

A year ago, Barbara McKean of Naples, Florida, paid Regenocyte Therapeutic more than $54,000 for stem cell therapy in the Dominican Republic after suffering from chronic lung disease. She said she believes the therapy was worth the expense.

So, are you willing to be part of a private research project? I suppose the villains in the James Bond movie had no choice. Did you guess the James Bond movie? Die Another Day. Maybe if we start seeing some high-profile officials (drug lords) visit the Dominican Republic for "medical care," then we'll have a really interesting medical clinic to investigate. Until then, we have to wait to see what type of data can be generated from this interesting practice. To read the CNN story, click here.