The future of technologies for personalised medicine

Personalised medicine promises prediction, prevention and treatment of illness that is targeted to individuals’ needs. New technologies for detailed biological profiling of individuals at the molecular level have been crucial in initiating the move to personalised medicine; further novel technologies will be necessary if the vision is to become a reality. We will need to develop new technologies to collect and analyse data in a way that is not just linear but integrated (understanding system level functioning) and dynamic (understanding system in flux). Key factors in the development of technologies for personalised medicine are standardisation, integration and harmonisation. For example, the tools and processes for data collection and analysis must be standardised across research sites. Research activity at different sites must be integrated to maximise synergies, and scientific research must be integrated with healthcare to ensure effective translation. There must also be harmonisation between scientific practices in different research sites, between science and healthcare and between science, healthcare and wider society, including the ethical and regulatory frameworks, the prevailing political and cultural ethos and the expectations of patients/citizens.