NAFLD/NASH Data Commons as a Global First among Key Updates at PMS-IC’s High Impact 10th Anniversary Conference

On Thursday 28th September 2023, we hosted our 10th Anniversary Conference that was attended by academics, clinicians, healthcare professionals and industry partners colleagues form across the UK. The daylong conference took place at the Technology and Innovation Centre at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and featured 10 sessions in the main room and an additional 5 Genomics Sessions in the breakout room, hosted by our partners the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine.

The day started with a welcome from Dr David Bunton, chair of the Precision Medicine Scotland board and CEO of REPROCELL Europe. David was followed by our CEO of Precision Medicine Scotland- Marian McNeil who gave an overview of PMS-IC to date from before handing over to our keynote speaker Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak (Chief Scientist Health).

Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak shared many insights including that the global market value for precision medicine in Scotland could reach $206bn by 2027. In a far-reaching presentation that looked at the academic, social and economic benefits of the precision medicine ecosystem and the role of PMS-IC in Scotland and beyond, Dame Anna explored the readiness of precision medicine for clinical adoption, with exciting developments and growth potential to treat, prevent and intervene to efficiently manage patient care. Dame Anna stressed that timing is of the essence and the urgency is required as we continue to roll out precision medicine.

Dr Sarah Lynagh from FIOS Genomics Ltd gave insights into the use of applied big data with a discussion of the IMvigor210 trial, and the use of multi-omics data to identify predictors of outcome for response to treatment and overall survival.

Dr David Latto representing the Q2 Genomics strand of Iqvia UK gave an overview of the public health applications for genomic research, and the potential uses of precision medicine at scale to tackle rare disease, by improving patient outcomes in prevention, diagnostics and treatment. With the introduction of PGx, genomics and precision medicine into primary care, potentially being able to save the NHS £4.5bn across the UK, demonstrating the strong economic case for the development of precision medicine.

Dr Patricia Roxburgh provided an insight into the acceleration of genomics in precision cancer therapies from, including the use of genomic biomarker research in mutations of ovarian cancer, and the improvement in treatment and outcomes for patient as a result of the research conducted. Dr Roxburgh stressed the importance of molecular tumour boards in decision making using comprehensive testing.

On behalf of our special guests, The Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine, Nicola Williams gives us an overview of the networks structure, and their work towards a genomic strategy for Scotland.

Highlights of the panel discussion prior to lunch saw Dame Anna Dominiczak praise collaboration between NHS, academia and industry partners to strengthen the precision medicine sector as she highlighted the importance of engaging industry with the work being done and CEO Marian McNeil emphasised being brave in our approach, including the active involvement of the innovation centre with partner organisations and ensuring engagement with industry and multi-party collaborations. Our panel was asked about unlocking the success of precision medicine in Scotland as a game changing opportunity for public health. In response Nicola Williams (SSNGM) stressed building collaborative relationships within academic, industry and the NHS as a priority to innovation. Immediately after lunch Professor Colin Palmer gave us an oversight of the SHARE Scottish National Biobank, and their work to link genomic data to electronic medical records to further advance precision medicine research in Scotland.

This was followed by an insightful look at the development of a clinical decision support tool using Artificial Intelligence from Dr Ignat Drozdov from Bering Ltd.

PMS-IC CTO Peter Mclaughlin then gave an introduction to Precision medicine Scotland’s Trusted Research Environment.

This was followed by a presentation on  the SteatoSITE project, a NAFLD Data-Commons from Dr Tim Kendall and Professor Jonathan Fallowfield, who were able to tell attendees that “there is nothing like this globally. We are leading the way in data commons development for precision medicine.”

The day concluded with a session from Aridhia’s Robert Bryce and Kara Lasater on their experience hosting the custom built platform for the Precision Medicine Scotland Core Trusted research environment.

Overall, the day was a huge success, providing with a much needed opportunity to hear from a variety of speakers from industry, academia and the NHS and gave everyone from this variety of backgrounds a chance to network and identify potential collaboration opportunities for the future.