About Us | Press Releases | 2006 | March 15

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR ADVANCED PROTEOMICS AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE CO-DIRECTORS, LANCE LIOTTA, PH.D., M.D., AND EMANUEL F. PETRICOIN, PH.D., TO SERVE AS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AT THE BIO IT COALITION ANNUAL CONFERENCE

This year's conference, "Using Advanced Information Technologies to Develop Personalized Medicine/Healthcare," will be a 2 day event focusing on the development of personalized medicine.  On May 4th, the program will take place on the George Mason University (GMU) Fairfax campus and on May 5th attendees will tour the Center for Advanced Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) at GMU's Prince William campus.  Center Co-Directors, Lance Liotta, Ph.D., M.D., and Emanuel F. Petricoin, Ph.D. will serve as Keynote speakers on May 4.  They just announced an unprecedented, three year agreement between the CAPMM and the Instituto Superiore di Sanita of Rome, the main scientific arm of the Italian National Health Service.  These 2 institutions will develop a joint proteomics research program to discover new drug targets and biomarkers for early cancer detection.

Personalized medicine will allow physicians to prescribe the right drug at the right dose for the right person based upon unique variations in their genetic makeup.  The challenge and promise of the genomic revolution is to develop information technology tools to deal with massive amounts of data and that will efficiently store and analyze patient DNA sequences and genome expression and proteomic profiles while insuring patient privacy and record security.  Improved health care delivery will be achieved by the resulting individually targeted diagnostics and therapies as well as better patient record systems.

Finding cures to avoid harmful, sometimes lethal side effects of "one size fits all" blockbusters will require a cataclysmic shift in thinking to a personalized medicine model.  Business, funding, legal, policy, regulatory and ethical issues affecting improved health care will also be explored.

Registration is now open!  For more information and/or to register online please go to: www.bioitcoalition.org.  Discounted rates are available for students and for members and non-members through March 31.