Personalized medicine comes down to understanding human disease at the molecular level. It is here where the interplay of the smallest building blocks of life can yield critical information about normal and abnormal cell functioning. It is here where innovative approaches to care are changing medicine. The ability to customize healthcare based on an individual’s unique DNA continues to evolve, resulting primarily from advances in molecular medicine—the dynamic intersection of genetics, genomics and medicine.
NorthShore’s Center for Molecular Medicine brings together our expertise and strengths in clinical and laboratory-based genetics and genomics to individualize patient care. The Center translates research into clinical practice, harnessing the power of DNA analysis and the integration of our health system’s sophisticated electronic medical record system (EMR). It focuses on applying genetic and genomic information and the influences of lifestyle and environment on health and disease. This new knowledge helps guide prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of various conditions for our community as well as others. It is particularly applicable to chronic, complex diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Molecular medicine has all the right ingredients to yield innovative findings that can ultimately benefit the thousands of patients who rely on NorthShore for their care.
The Center’s research efforts incorporate scientific discoveries from all fronts—genetics, molecular, cellular, structural biology, technology—in advancing the field of personalized medicine. NorthShore clinicians, scientists and bioinformaticians are just a few of the experts involved in various genetics studies, particularly in the field of oncology, neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders. Myriad resources available at NorthShore, including our clinical genetics programs, pharmacogenomics clinic, biorepository and molecular pathology program, make it possible to conduct translational research studies that have particular relevance to the health and well-being of NorthShore patients and their families.