Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine, also known as precision medicine, is a medical approach that aims to tailor prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to each patient based on their unique characteristics. Rather than assuming that the same treatment will work for everyone, personalized medicine takes into account factors such as each patient’s genetic makeup, microbiome composition, lifestyle, environment, and medical history.

This approach is based on the understanding that even when two people have the same disease, it may not develop in the same way, and they may respond differently to the same treatment. By combining genetic information, clinical data, laboratory tests, and advanced technologies, physicians can gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the disease and select a treatment that is more likely to benefit the individual patient, while reducing the risk of ineffective treatment or side effects.

In recent years, advances in fields such as genetic sequencing, artificial intelligence, metagenomics, and big data analysis have made personalized medicine one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research worldwide.

At the forefront of research at the Dangoor Center for Personalized Medicine

This vision is taking shape at the Dangoor Center for Personalized Medicine at Bar-Ilan University. Founded in 2017 and now home to more than 100 researchers, the center serves as a multidisciplinary research hub, bringing together expertise in the life sciences, medicine, computer science, psychology, and chemistry to develop the next generation of medical treatments.

The center’s researchers work both on the university’s main campus in Ramat Gan and at Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, in Safed.

Personalized medicine depends on connecting scientific breakthroughs in the laboratory with needs arising in clinical practice. The Dangoor Center therefore works closely with medical and research centers in Israel and around the world. A key strategic partnership in research and clinical practice is with Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

Research at the Dangoor Center for Personalized Medicine spans a wide range of fields, including:

• Genetics and molecular biology: RNA research, epigenetics, CRISPR technology, clinical genetics, and rare disease research
• Oncology and immunology: Cancer research and immunotherapy
• Brain and mental health sciences: Psychology and mental health, molecular neurobiology, and research into neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and nervous system
• Body systems, diagnostics, and infectious diseases: Microbiota, metabolism, public health, and infectious diseases, alongside nanomedicine and advanced diagnostics
• Technology and clinical applications: Computational biology and translational medicine, which aim to analyze complex systems and bring laboratory discoveries directly to patient care

1. What is the difference between personalized medicine and conventional medicine?

Medical treatments are generally determined based on the results of studies conducted in large groups of patients. This approach makes it possible to identify treatments that benefit many people, but it cannot always predict how an individual patient will respond. Personalized medicine aims to make these decisions more precise by taking into account biological, clinical, and environmental characteristics relevant to the individual patient or their disease.

Personalized medicine seeks to understand differences between patients in advance and tailor treatment to each individual. To do so, it combines information from various sources, such as genetic data, medical tests, lifestyle, microbiome composition, and medical history. This can lead to more precise treatment decisions and increase the likelihood of successful treatment.

2. What are the benefits of personalized medicine?

Personalized medicine aims to identify the most appropriate treatment for each patient from the outset, rather than relying on a process of trial and error. This approach may improve treatment effectiveness and reduce the risk of side effects.

The main benefits of personalized medicine include:

• Greater effectiveness: Matching the right treatment to the right patient at the right stage of the disease.
• Fewer side effects: Avoiding treatments that are unlikely to be effective or that may cause harm.
• Earlier diagnosis and prevention: Identifying risk factors and biological characteristics that may indicate an increased risk of disease before symptoms appear.
• More efficient use of healthcare resources: Tailoring treatment may reduce unnecessary interventions and enable more precise medical decision-making.

3. Which diseases are already being treated using personalized medicine?

Personalized medicine is already being applied in many areas and continues to expand:

• Oncology (cancer): This is one of the most advanced areas of personalized medicine. Genetic testing of a tumor can identify specific genetic changes and help match patients with drugs that target them.
• Rare diseases: Genetic sequencing can identify the underlying cause of a disease, including rare conditions that could not previously be diagnosed.
• Cardiovascular diseases: Combining clinical data, laboratory tests, and, in some cases, genetic information can help assess risk, make a diagnosis, and tailor treatment.
• Infectious diseases: Identifying the cause of an infection and testing its susceptibility to medications makes it possible to tailor treatment to the specific pathogen and avoid drugs that are unlikely to be effective.

Extensive research is also underway in areas such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and neurological disorders, with the aim of developing personalized treatments.

4. Is personalized medicine based only on genetic testing?

No. Genetics is an important component of personalized medicine, but it is only part of the picture.

Today, researchers and physicians combine information from many sources, including blood tests, medical imaging, clinical data, microbiome composition, age, sex, lifestyle, diet, underlying health conditions, and environmental factors. Bringing together these different sources of information provides a more complete understanding of the patient’s condition and helps determine the most appropriate medical approach for that individual.

The more information available about each patient, the more precisely medical decisions can be made and the better diagnosis, prevention, and treatment can be tailored to the individual.

5. Does every patient receive a treatment designed specifically for them?

Not exactly. Personalized medicine does not involve creating a new drug for every patient. Rather, it helps select the most appropriate treatment from among the options already available.

In many cases, several patients may receive the same treatment because their diseases share similar characteristics. In other cases, people with the same disease may receive different treatments depending on their genetic characteristics, the type and stage of the disease, or other medical factors.

The goal is to match each patient with the treatment most likely to benefit them, while reducing the risk of ineffective treatment or side effects.

6. How does artificial intelligence contribute to personalized medicine?

Artificial intelligence can analyze vast amounts of medical and genetic data, identify patterns that are difficult for humans to detect, and help predict disease risk, select treatments, and understand how patients respond to medications. Importantly, AI does not replace the physician, but serves as a tool to support medical decision-making.