Translational Pharmacology

Translational pharmacology is an exciting area tied directly to the concept of personalized medicine. It developed out of the Human [Page 1436]Genome Project, which fully sequenced the human genome in 2002, revealing an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 human protein-encoding genes. Since then, basic science discoveries have proceeded on a genomic level at a rapid pace, hand-in-hand with technological advances in DNA sequencing capabilities and molecular innovations. As disease processes and drug response mechanisms become better understood, new drug therapies are being developed along with associated biomarkers (tests that reveal a disease state) and molecular diagnostics (tests that reveal an individual’s genetic capacity to respond to drugs). Translational pharmacology seeks to transform the genomic-level discoveries of basic science into drug treatments that physicians can use to ...