After trying different methods, why do many people have difficulty quitting smoking? That’s a question Rachel Tyndale, Ph.D., is asking as part of her research into smoking cessation therapy. As senior scientist and head of the Pharmacogenetics Lab in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at University of Toronto, Dr. Tyndale is using molecular genetics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics to better understand differences in medication toxicity and response. Her team is exploring how a person’s genes impact addiction and drug response to develop better, individualized therapies for people who want to quit smoking.

Dr. Rachel Tyndale

As a plenary speaker at this year’s Individualizing Medicine Conference, Dr. Tyndale will share her research in her presentation Pharmacogenomic Optimization of Smoking Cessation. Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine will host the conference on Oct. 9-10, in Rochester, Minnesota.

This year’s conference also features many other opportunities to learn about pharmacogenomics, an area of precision medicine that has made great strides in individualizing patient care for many conditions. Here are highlights from this year’s program:

Pharmacogenomics: Practical Approach for the Healthcare Team

This preconference course, held Oct. 7-8, will be taught by Mayo Clinic experts, including Richard Weinshiilboum, M.D., Eric Matey, Pharm.D., R.Ph., and Wayne Nicholson, M.D., Pharm. D., who are leaders in bringing pharmacogenomics into clinical practice. Participants will learn:

• How to use guidelines to make specific prescribing decisions for patient care when genetic information is available
• Identify key principles for incorporating pharmacogenomics into clinical practice
• How pharmacogenomics recommendations are tailored to treat conditions such as heart disease, cancer, depression, anxiety and pain management
• Areas where preemptive genetic testing is used on healthy people before they have a medical problem
• What pharmacogenomics tests are currently available for use in clinical practice

Pharmacogenomics: From Sequencing to the Clinic

Moderated by Liewei Wang, M.D., Ph.D., this conference session will feature:

• Steve Scherer, Ph.D., professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine
• J. Steven Leeder, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Marion Merrell Dow/Missouri Endowed Chair in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology and director, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Innovation at Children's Mercy Kansas City
• Suzette Bielinski, Ph.D.. associate professor of Epidemiology at Mayo Clinic

The topics to be discussed include:

• The advantages, disadvantages and challenges of different methods of preemptive pharmacogenomics testing
• Results from the Mayo RIGHT preemptive pharmacogenomics study with 1013 patients
• The unique challenges and opportunities of implementing pharmacogenomics in caring for children

Pharmacogenomics CME courses for clinicians and pharmacists:

• Pharmacogenomics: Practical Approach for the Health Care Team – Oct. 7-8, Rochester, Minnesota
• Drugs and Genes: Pharmacogenomics for the Modern Health Care Team 2017 Dec. 8-9, Phoenix, Arizona

Register for the 2017 Individualizing Medicine Conference

Hear the experts listed above and many others discuss the latest research in precision medicine and how it can be applied to improve diagnosis and treatment for many conditions at Individualizing Medicine 2017: Advancing Care Through Genomics.

Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, is hosting the sixth annual genomics conference, October 9–10, in Rochester, Minnesota.

• Register today via the conference website.
• See the schedule.
• Review the list of speakers.
• Follow the latest news related to the conference on the Center for Individualized Medicine blog, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter at @MayoClinicCIM and use the hashtag #CIMCon17.

Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine is hosting the conference with support from the Jackson Family Foundation.

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