What he's describing will, I believe, have significant and exciting implications for Laboratory Medicine because the concepts are based on the idea of clinical laboratory genomic analysis for identification of disease risk alleles, blood analysis for early detection of disease by measurement of disease specific biomarkers, and interpretation of data by knowledgeable experts.
With the prospect of a $1000 genome sequence in the not-too-distant future, and rapid advances in protein analysis by mass spectrometry, it seems realistic to think that many of the technical limitations are surmountable. The question in my mind is how does one deal with the enormous amount of data from these analyses and distill it into something intelligible to physicians and patients alike? And will patients really take an interest in modifying their lifestyle in response to new risk factors when it's so difficult for many people to adjust to well known disease risk factors today, such as smoking, diet, lack of exercise, and so on?
But back to Laboratory Medicine. What is being described as P4 Medicine is obviously very reliant on clinical laboratory analysis, and could bring about a new era for advanced Lab Medicine in specialized centers that can offer such testing.
A link to the ISB page is provided. I've highlighted (annotated) on Diigo some points I found interesting or controversial.
