The Rise of the ‘Narciss-Ome’

The Rise of the ‘Narciss-Ome’

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The future of personalized genomic medicine can be glimpsed in a paper that reports the integration of lead author Michael Snyder’s genomic sequence with other ‘omics’ to give a read-out on his predisposition to disease, and his body’s response to viral infections and the onset of type 2 diabetes. As a proof-of-principle example of personalized genomic medicine, it is distinct from other studies because it applies whole-genome diagnostics to a healthy person rather than to individuals with disease.

Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, joins the swelling ranks of researchers who have publicly aired their own genome sequence. Some scientists question whether the latest work has much to add to the field. Richard Gibbs of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, has humorously dubbed it “the narciss-ome”.