Stanford researcher Michael Snyder has been studying his own genome for two years, and now the results of his study have been published in Cell, reports Popular Science's Rebecca Boyle. Snyder and his team have been studying his genome, transcriptome, metabolome, and proteome in an effort to make as detailed a personal 'omics profile as possible. "They watched in real time and at the molecular level as viruses attacked his cells, and they figured out, to their shock, that he was prone to developing type 2 diabetes. And then they watched him develop it," Boyle says. "It's the first study to follow the molecular processes of sickness and health in one individual, and as such it's a major breakthrough for personalized medicine. It's also the first real-time view of the birth of a disease that afflicts millions of people."
With a bit of tongue in cheek, Nature News' Carina Dennis calls the study "the rise of the narciss-ome," adding that the future of personalized medicine "can be glimpsed today" in Snyder's paper. "As a proof-of-principle example of personalized genomic medicine, it is distinct from other studies because it applies whole-genome diagnostics to a healthy person rather than to individuals with disease," she says.
Daily Scan's sister publication, GenomeWeb Daily News, has more on Snyder's study here.