The future of medicine begins in a basement of the Med-Uni Innsbruck. There’s a device out there that can be used to display the full genetic makeup of humans for the first time. According to the university, it is the first machine of this type in Austria. What it can do is fascinating, but not without problems. From 2024, the genetic makeup of 2,000 Austrians will be decoded.
The machine, which recently stood in the basement of the Institute for Human Genetics of the Medical University of Innsbruck, looks like a large refrigerator. It cost almost 1 million euros. What it can do is change the future of medicine. “For the first time, we receive an image of the entire genome of a person within 30 hours,” explains institute director Johannes Zschocke.
The researcher compares the genetic material (genome) with a library in which 3.1 billion genetic letters have been collected. These letters say who we are: not only our appearance can be read in our genes, but also – and this is crucial for medicine – why we develop certain diseases.
Find causes and risks of diseases
“This method makes it possible to clarify the causes of diseases and risk factors,” the institute director describes the benefits. For example, the risk of breast cancer can be clarified. In Innsbruck, the new machine is mainly used for rare diseases that are difficult to decipher with other methods.
Researcher points out the great responsibility
Technology can do a lot, but what to do with the knowledge? Zschocke speaks of a great responsibility and points out that knowledge does not always heal automatically. What do you do if you discover a predisposition to a serious age-related disease, but cannot offer the patient any prevention or therapy?
Planned: Analyze the genetic material of 2,000 Austrians
The data from genetic determination are not always clearly readable. But science learns quickly. The Med-Uni Innsbruck is also doing this as part of a project that should start in 2024. The aim is to comprehensively analyze the genetic makeup of 2,000 Austrians and identify regional differences. Because, as we already know, they exist. And that currently makes it even more difficult to interpret the data from the ‘fridge’.
Source: Krone
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