626
UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine and the
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology started a partnership in June 2014 to cre-
ate a new research center that will accelerate genomics discoveries and translate
them into clinical practice. UAB-HudsonAlpha center will focus on using genomic
and molecular approaches to study etiology as well as progression diseases, and
will incorporate research fi ndings into clinical studies aiming to predict and diag-
nose diseases for developing personalized approaches to treatment. It will formal-
ize an ongoing collaborative relationship that has combined HudsonAlpha’s
genomics tools, know-how, and infrastructure with UAB’s academic research and
clinical medicine capabilities. The center will include a cross-section of scientists
and physicians from UAB and HudsonAlpha working in multiple disease areas
that will integrate genomic information into their specialties. The center also will
conduct large scale genome sequencing to discover genes that are involved in dis-
eases, and will start a program to teach researchers and physicians how to incorpo-
rate genomic information into their studies or clinical practices, and to train
graduate students.
University of Colorado’s Center for Personalized Medicine
In 2014, University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) announced a plan to use $63
million to create a new personalized medicine center that will use genomic testing
and bioinformatics in clinical care and in research programs to treat patients and
improve outcomes. UCHealth will contribute $26 million and its partners at the UC
School of Medicine, University Physicians Inc, and the Children’s Hospital
Colorado will provide the remainder of the center’s funding. A new Division of
Personalized Medicine will be created within the School of Medicine. University of
Colorado-affi liated institutions include the Colorado Health Medical Group; the
Medical Center of the Rockies; Memorial Hospital Central; Memorial Hospital
North; Poudre Valley Hospital; and the University of Colorado Hospital. The center
will be housed at the UC Anschutz Medical Campus in Denver, but it will serve
patients and clinicians at UCHealth and Children’s Hospital Colorado locations
spread around the state.
The center will provide genetic and molecular testing services and consultations,
and it will house a DNA bank resource that will sequence and store samples from
around the region for use in treatment and research. These services will include tests
to predict disease risk, to assess cancer patients’ responses to treatment, and to iden-
tify the correct drugs and dosages for patients. Identity of the samples in the DNA
bank will be encrypted. An analytics department at the center will analyze and
research the molecular and genomic data from the tests, and the center will hire
20 Development of Personalized Medicine