Science Market Update

Launched in 2016, the Precision Medicine Initiative aims to transform our understanding of the factors that contribute to health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided Vanderbilt University a $31.8M grant to be used for the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) program with a projected project end date of December 2022. Dr. Joshua Denny, MD, MS, is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine as well as principal investigator (PI) of the Data and Research Center of the PMI “All of Us” Research program at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee.

By Dansan4444 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21419527

Dr. Denny is actively collecting biological samples from volunteers and as of January 25^th, 2019 had 100,000 participants complete in-person visits. The NIH goal is to have at least one million volunteers from around the United States participate in the project in hopes of changing the “one-size-fits-all-approach” that most medical treatments are currently designed around. This large pool of data will hopefully allow medical professionals to take into account individual differences in people’s genes, environments and lifestyles to provide more personalized treatment(s). Advances in precision medicine are already transforming the way we treat diseases and various forms of cancer. New treatments are being optimized for each particular person and patients now routinely undergo molecular testing as part of patient care. The “All of Us” Research program will continue collecting data across the nation until 2022 and massive funding is being dispersed to keep the project moving forward.

• All of Us Pennsylvania (at UPitt)

• UCSD: Co Leaders, in $1.455 Billion “All of Us” Program

Vanderbilt University Funding Facts:

• 2017 Total R&D : $712,036,000
• 2017 Life Science R&D Expenditures: $542,857,000
• 2018 NIH Funding: $102,275,777

Later this fall Biotechnology Calendar looks forward to hosting its 1^st annual BioResearch Product Faire™ event at Vanderbilt where Professors, Graduate Students, Post Doctoral Candidates, Research Scientists, Grant Holders, Principal Investigators, Lab Managers and Pharmacists can network and learn about the latest science innovations. The event will take place Thursday October 3rd, 2019.

By Dansan4444 - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15065944

If you are a lab supplier, attending the event will introduce your products and services to hundreds of researchers actively seeking the newest and latest technologies to aid their life science research.  We hope you will join us at the upcoming Vanderbilt BioResearch Product Faire™ event. 

The University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) is investing $2 billion in the construction of 3 new hospitals that are scheduled to break ground early this spring.

The $515M Health Education Campus, a collaboration project between Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic, is scheduled to open this summer. The campus’ centerpiece facility is going to be named the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion in recognition of their significant contribution to the project. Mr. Samson, executive chairman of Macsteel Holdings, had a successful heart surgery performed by the former CEO and president of Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Toby Cosgrove and is a member of Cleveland Clinic’s International Leadership Board. This recent donation by Mr. Samson and his wife is among the largest to be received by the clinic.