Genetic & Environmental Determinants Of Immune Phenotype Variance: Establishing A Path Towards Personalized Medicine (LabExMI)

Susceptibility to infections, disease severity, and response to medical therapies and vaccines are highly variable from one individual to another. While the question of variance in human populations continues to be a focal point of scientific research, medical practices and public health policies typically take a 'one size fits all' model to disease management and drug development. Individual heterogeneity in the immune response can have an enormous impact on the likelihood to respond to therapy or the development of side effects secondary to vaccine administration. Because of the complexity of immune responses in the individual and within the population, it has not been possible thus far to define the parameters (genetic or environmental) that constitute a healthy immune system and its natural occurring variability. Efforts to restore the 'personal' in medical care are the current challenge, and the driving vision of the project, to which the current study belongs. In order to realize the promise of personalized medicine, an in-depth understanding of the determinants of heterogeneity in host response to stress is required.