Science
BioBank Japan's 270,000 Participants: A 'Library of Samples' Supporting Genomic Medicine
Related terms: 生命科学 医療 遺伝 理科 ゲノム DNA 個別化医療
Key points (reviewing AI explanation)
Medicines and treatments have traditionally been developed for the "average person," but their effectiveness varies from person to person. One factor behind this difference is genes (the genome). By gathering a large number of people — 270,000 — statistical tendencies become visible, such as "this drug tends to work well for people with this genotype." At the same time, this raises ethical (privacy) issues about how to protect the genome, the ultimate form of personal information, and about who should be allowed to use it and to what extent. It is a frontier where science and society (ethics) intersect.
Explanation
BioBank Japan (BBJ), one of the largest disease biobanks in Asia, is holding a public tour. BBJ stores samples such as blood, serum, and DNA from roughly 270,000 people, linked with information about their diseases, and serves as a foundation for large-scale research into which genetic characteristics are related to which diseases. It is, in effect, a library of human body data supporting "personalized medicine" (tailor-made medicine), which selects the optimal treatment for each individual.
Source: biobankjp.org