Department of Molecular and Precision Medicine

I am delighted to help launch the new Department of Molecular and Precision Medicine, which is dedicated to realizing the potential of molecular biology to address issues of medical significance. This is an exciting time to be involved in biomedical research. The explosive growth in genomic, proteomic and metabolomic analysis, coupled with increased sophistication in computational methods, has provided molecular biologists with an unprecedented ability to identify genetic and environmental factors that influence susceptibility to diseases and to predict the likely outcome of various treatment options. Accordingly, we have never been better positioned to convert the basic science that emerges from our labs into treatments that can affect the well-being of patients.

As part of Penn State College of Medicine, the faculty in our department are well positioned to understand the needs of the clinicians and to transfer successes in our research laboratories back to the clinic. We are fortunate in having close association with clinicians in the College of Medicine and with clinical programs, such as Penn State Cancer Institute, Penn State Neuroscience Institute, Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Penn State Institute for Personalized Medicine. We will continue to work closely with our clinical colleagues to push the frontiers of medical science both to acquire fundamental understanding of biological processes and to develop new tools for diagnosis and treatment of diseases.