Swabs, scans and Star Trek: How healthcare is getting personal

Newsroom

4 days ago

Personalised medicine is moving beyond one-size-fits-all treatments, using genetic, clinical, demographic and lifestyle data to tailor care to the individual. In cancer, for example, some therapies now target mutations unique to a patient's DNA, improving outcomes and reducing side effects.
But that's only the beginning. Genome sequencing of some of our sickest Kiwi newborns – and their parents – is already helping guide diagnosis and treatment of children with rare diseases.
Meanwhile New Zealand is at the forefront of global research into the human digital twin. This field is about creating virtual replicas of patients built from their health data, including DNA profiles, medical history, imaging and biomarkers.
Digital twins could allow doctors to test treatment scenarios, including surgery or medication, in a risk-free environment, predicting how a patient might respond before starting therapy.
This year's free Raising the Bar event – where a selection of the University of Auckland's most interesting (and entertaining) academics talk about their research in some of the city's best watering holes – features two top researchers in the field of personalised medicine.
Professor Justin O'Sullivan's talk, 'Swab, sequence, surprise! How science is personalising your health' explores cutting-edge science around gut bugs, DNA and metabolic fingerprints.
O'Sullivan is director of the world-leading Liggins Institute, focusing on health research, and an expert in gut bugs and in DNA sequencing.
Meanwhile Professor Merryn Tawhai, director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, is 'reimagining healthcare with human digital twins'. As well as heading the lung team of the institute's human digital twin project, Tawhai sits on the board of directors for Cure Kids and was recently appointed to the Prime Minister's Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council. Oh, and she's a committed Star Trek fan.
'Swab, sequence, surprise': What's that all about?
Justin O'Sullivan: So you can swab different areas of your body, right? You can get cells from your mouth and that can tell you about your genetics and that's really important for predicting disease risk. But you can also swab your butt and find out about gut bacteria. And having healthy colonies of bacteria are really important because they modify how our bodies are working, and they are our interface with our environment.
Science is personalising our health not just looking at our electronic records but looking at our body as a walking ecosystem. Sure, you're affected by your environment, but other factors, particularly your DNA and the organisms you carry with you, are working along with the environmental factors to determine your health.
When we bring everything together we can ensure diagnosis and treatments are personal to you.
How do you feel about talking in a bar environment?
It's a bit of a thrill, to be honest. At an academic conference, you look around and a lot of people are on their phones, their laptops; they're not interested in the talk. At Raising the Bar, you are talking to a group of people who have gone there specifically to listen to you. They're engaged. And that engagement is a really important thing.
Professor Justin O'Sullivan is talking at 6pm August 26 at Wynyard Pavilion, 17 Jellicoe Street, Auckland tickets here.
I hear you'll be talking about Star Trek and digital twins at Raising the Bar. Sneak preview?
Remember in Star Trek when somebody got ill there was that little handheld device that just scanned over them and they miraculously knew what was wrong with them and how to treat them? Okay, we're not quite there yet but we're surprisingly far along that pathway.
The human digital twin project is about doctors being able to predict how your body would respond to surgery without ever touching you. Or being able to see exactly how you would react to new medication before you take it.
As a Trekkie myself, I like to imagine bringing the Star Trek tricorder to life. In a few years' time, if you get sick we will have a digital twin of you, and we will be able to scan part of you and get new information that tells us about your current condition, and that is linked to the digital twin. And that will allow us to make more rapid diagnosis and determine a personalised treatment plan for you.
Professor Merryn Tawhai is talking at 6pm August 26 at Good George, 1 Jellicoe Street, North Wharf, Auckland tickets here.