Tackling the translational challenges of multi-omics research in the realm of European personalised medicine: A workshop report

Abstract

Personalised medicine (PM) presents a great opportunity to improve the future of individualised healthcare. Recent advances in -omics technologies have led to unprecedented efforts characterising the biology and molecular mechanisms that underlie the development and progression of a wide array of complex human diseases, supporting further development of PM. This article reflects the outcome of the 2021 EATRIS-Plus Multi-omics Stakeholder Group workshop organised to 1) outline a global overview of common promises and challenges that key European stakeholders are facing in the field of multi-omics research, 2) assess the potential of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and 3) establish an initial dialogue between key initiatives in this space. Our focus is on the alignment of agendas of European initiatives in multi-omics research and the centrality of patients in designing solutions that have the potential to advance PM in long-term healthcare strategies.

Keywords: EU initiatives; bottlenecks in health data; multi-omics; personalised medicine; research infrastructures; translational medicine.

FIGURE 1

The EATRIS+ multi-omics toolbox. The multi-omics toolbox will be developed and tested with a real-setting demonstrator, an already established cohort of 1,000 healthy individuals in Czechia upon whom genomic sequencing has been already performed. Information available on this healthy individual cohort will be augmented during the project with transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data. By providing such toolbox to the research community, EATRIS-Plus will be the engine to enable high-quality research in the context of patient stratification and accelerate the implementation of Personalised Medicine solutions. EATRIS is the European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine providing services for accelerating biomedical innovation.