Physicians are increasingly using genetic testing to unravel mysterious or rare diseases in patients with baffling symptoms. But untangling mystifying symptoms is only half the battle.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently selected DBMI’s Alexa McCray, Professor of Medicine, to chair a committee on broadening access to the results of scientific research.
Novel molecular tests are gaining popularity as a rapid way to detect genetic mutations that render tuberculosis impervious to drugs. Yet, how well these new tests fare in gauging risk of actual drug failure and patient death has remained unclear.
Call it the “too much knowledge” paradox: The vast amount of new data generated by biomedical science carries the promises to make medicine über-precise. In the meantime, however, it does so at the peril of generating too much noise and confusion.
The survival of the human species in the face of a high number of incoming genetic mutations has remained an important problem in evolutionary biology. A newborn human is estimated to receive about 70 new mutations that the parents did not have.
Drug repositioning, or putting already approved compounds to new uses, has gained ground in recent years as a cost-saving alternative to traditional drug development.
