A new tool brings personalized medicine closer

14. Scientists from EPFL and ETHZ have developed a powerful tool for exploring and determining the inherent biological differences between individuals, which overcomes a major hurdle for personalized medicine. One of the biggest obstacles in successfully treating metabolic disorders such as diabetes, obesity, fatty liver etc, is the variation in the way patients respond to medication. The key to this variation lies in the inherent biological differences between individuals, which cannot all be explained genetically. At the same time, this variation makes it very difficult to develop "standard" treatments for certain diseases. In a groundbreaking initiative, EPFL and ETHZ scientists have developed a strategy that can define and explain metabolic differences between individuals, essentially paving the way for precision medicine. The work, which also highlights significant issues with animal-based drug studies, is published in  Science .