Personalized Medicine – Correlating Biomarkers with Clinical Outcome
Level - GradThe ability to detect, diagnose, and treat human diseases based on the molecular profiles of individual patients is often called personalized medicine. This is a world-wide effort that being actively pursued by many medical schools, biomedical engineering programs, and pharmaceutical companies. Towards this long term goal, Emory and Georgia Tech are interested in establishing a collaborative institute for personalized medicine - The Emory and Georgia Tech Institute for Personalized Medicine (EmTech - IPM). Considering Emory’s strength in clinical oncology and Georgia Tech’s strength in bioinformatics and bioengineering, this Institute will focus specifically on correlating biomolecular signatures (biomarkers) with cancer behavior. Your specific tasks are (a) to search the available databases to identify a panel of 10-100 biomarkers that are correlated with certain cellular behavior and clinical outcome (e.g., rapid disease progression, metastasis, or death); (b) to develop an experimental strategy to validate these biomarkers individually and in combinations, and (c) to develop bioassays for screening patients. In a broad sense, biomarkers are defined as genes, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, small metabolite molecules, and their mutations or alterations. You are free to choose any of these biomarker types or their combinations in developing an innovative research agenda that is competitive for NIH P01 (program center projects) funding.