Project description:We endeavored to identify objective blood biomarkers for pain, a subjective sensation with a biological basis, using a stepwise discovery, prioritization, validation, and testing in independent cohorts design. We studied psychiatric patients, a high risk group for co-morbid pain disorders and increased perception of pain. For discovery, we used a powerful withinsubject longitudinal design. We were successful in identifying blood gene expression biomarkers that were predictive of pain state, and of future emergency department (ED) visits for pain, more so when personalized by gender and diagnosis.
Project description:The biological fingerprint of environmental adversity may be key to understanding health and disease, as it encompasses the damage induced as well as the compensatory reactions of the organism. Metabolic and hormonal changes may be an informative but incomplete window into the underlying biology. We endeavored to identify objective blood gene expression biomarkers for psychological stress, a subjective sensation with biological roots. To quantify the stress perception at a particular moment in time, we used a simple visual analogue scale for life stress in psychiatric patients, a high risk group. Then, using a stepwise discovery, prioritization, validation, and testing in independent cohorts design, we were successful in identifying gene expression biomarkers that were predictive of high stress states, and of future psychiatric hospitalizations related to stress, more so when personalized by gender and diagnosis.
Project description:The development of precision medicine strategies requires prior knowledge of the genetic background of the target population. However, despite the availability of data from admixed Americans within large reference population databases, we cannot use these data as a surrogate for that of the Brazilian population. This lack of transferability is mainly due to differences between ancestry proportions of Brazilian and other admixed American populations. To address the issue, a coalition of research centres created the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (BIPMed), an initiative of five Research Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) supported by FAPESP.