Genomics Data Mining for Personalized Medicine Group

Personalized medicine is an approach to health care that involves using information about a person's genetic background to design strategies for the detection, treatment and prevention of diseases. But genetic variations, which can cause people to respond in different ways to medication, represent a barrier to personalized medicine. Individual genes or many genes interacting with each other can determine response to medication. Combing through this complicated genetic map is expensive and time-consuming. Data mining, the process of extracting knowledge from a large collection of data, is very effective at extracting the combination of genes that is collectively responsible for a reaction to a certain medicine and treatment. This award supports the emergence of a team that will develop relevant data mining and statistical programs that will help make personalized medicine a reality in BC.