About the Cluster

Genetics, both as a basic science and in clinical practice, plays a critical and highly visible role in advancing personalized medicine and public health. Genetics will be the basis of future research unraveling the connections between our DNA sequences and our risks for clinical disease and will provide a national basis for prevention, intervention and cure. Genetics transcends departments, colleges and disciplines and generates both needs and services in the basic sciences, health care, bioethics, law, bioinformatics and communications.

Student Success

As personalized medicine becomes a reality, our students will need to understand how law, communications, risk assessment and public policy impact prevention and treatment of common disease. Each of us has a unique genetic background that is being disclosed via advances in technology and directly impacts our risk for disease and our response to therapies. While these are major clinical advances, they also create challenges as personal genetic data enter the internet age and create conflicts related to insurance, personal risk assessment and choice, forensic testing and database access, and views of race and ancestry.

Knowledge and Practice

Genetics already plays a key role in our knowledge and practice of public health and clinical care. Iowa needs to build on its existing strengths in genetic disease studies to play a leadership role in converting genetic knowledge to clinical use.