An individual’s phenotype can be influenced by their lifestyle, and this can determine how they respond to drugs and other treatments. Now, a legacy of the London Games aims to investigate the human phenome on an unprecedented scale.
The London 2012 anti-doping facilities will be developed after the Olympic and
Paralympic Games into a world-class resource that could help to revolutionise healthcare. The MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre will use the cutting-edge facilities developed for London 2012 to help develop better and more targeted treatment for patients. The first of its kind in the world, it will enable researchers to explore the characteristics of disease in order to develop new drugs and treatments.
A phenome describes a person’s chemistry – all the molecules in their blood, urine or tissues that are the result of their genetics and their lifestyle. This mixture of molecules is changing all the time and is influenced by factors such as diet, environment and even stress levels. It is linked to how a person responds to disease or to treatments such as drugs.
State-of-the-art expertise
Researchers at the centre will investigate the phenome patterns of patients and volunteers by analysing samples – usually blood or urine – very rapidly and on an unprecedented scale. This will help them to discover new biomarkers to explain why one individual or population may be more susceptible to a disease than another. This knowledge will aid scientists in finding new, safer and more targeted treatments. Phenome analysis has already been used to ‘tailor’ cancer treatment to suit individual patients by, for example, minimising the toxicity and maximising the efficiency of drug treatments for colon cancer.
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