The biggest difference between two individuals doesn’t lie in their physical traits, but in the set of genes and proteins that constitute their immune systems. This complex ecosystem – the immunome – may hold the key to biggest health breakthroughs in the 21st century. Like the sequencing of the human genome, mapping myriad immunomes across diverse populations will advance immunology, opening avenues of innovation in health diagnostics and therapeutics. With the new help of machine learning (AI), breakthroughs will likely materialise in the next decade and could even lead toward human enhancement technologies.
- How can medical professionals, scientists, and policymakers manage the enormous transformation a mapped immunome will bring?
- Can such a project remain open and coordinated among representative stakeholders?
“The potential of decoding the human immune system – the genetic underpinnings of people’s ability to respond and adapt to a range of diseases – is a major frontier in science.
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“Researchers have an unprecedented amount of data and need artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to understand it and, using AI, create a model of the human immune system.
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“If successful, the model could be used on infectious diseases, including AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and noncommunicable diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
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“Researchers need partnerships with academia, industry, NGOs and governments to be able to work in labs worldwide in ways that benefit the people most vulnerable to a range of diseases.
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“Data privacy is an important issue in a system that collects data from lots of different people, including data-sharing across jurisdictions.
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“International standards and guidelines are needed on the ethics of immunome research and data.
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