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No two snowflakes are the same – and the same goes for humans. We’re a sum of our genetics, our environment and experiences. These play a role in how well we respond to a certain treatment, so it stands to reason that healthcare should be tailored to each individual. Personalized medicine aims to do just that, using molecular analysis such as genome sequencing to tailor treatments to individuals and highlight disease risks with the aim of prevention.

Specific genes and gene mutations warn of a predisposition to a disease. For example, the BRCA1 and -2 genes indicate a high risk of breast cancer. Angelina Jolie’s high profile case brought the issue into the public eye when she took the brave step to sidestep possible cancer by having a double mastectomy. Genetic screening will also indicate whether you will be receptive to certain drugs. The breast cancer drug Trastuzumab (Herclon, Herceptin) will only be given to Her2+ patients, i.e. those who overexpress the HER2/neu receptor. Screening can also tell you whether you are predisposed to type 2 diabetes in later life and, on a lighter note, whether you can smell asparagus in your wee (asparagus anosmia).

At this early stage of its existence, personalized medicine has raised more questions than answers. What are the risks, ethics and costs involved, and how risky is it to hand over your genetic data to the growing number of private companies offering genetic risk screening? Will this affect your health insurance in the future?

This Wednesday 3rd December, join our Personalized Medicine #F1000Talks live chat on Twitter. My special guests Jeffrey Hannah (@J_hannah81) and James Flory (@JamFlo2k) will be discussing these issues and we welcome your participation and questions. Jeff Hannah is an F1000 Associate Faculty Member who works with FM Pengbo Zhou to review the literature. He won an AFM travel grant earlier this year and used the money to attend the Companion Diagnostics Conference at the New York Academy of Sciences at the end of April this year. My second guest, James Flory, is a research fellow at Weill Cornell Medical College’s Department of Healthcare Policy and Research whose research is in epidemiology and comparative effectiveness research on diabetes therapies, with an emphasis on understanding how to personalize which medications to select for which patient.

Join us!
When: Wednesday 3rd December, 1pm EST/6PM GMT
Where: Twitter!
How: We will be tweeting from @F1000 (follow us, and follow our guests!), using the #F1000Talks hashtag.

The live chat will start, as usual, with a 15-minute Q&A session, after which our guests will answer questions from the audience. We look forward to talking personalized medicine with you! In the meantime, check out the personalized medicine recommended papers on F1000!