Clinical Biomarkers & Pharmacogenomics
Clinical Biomarkers and Pharmacogenomics are key steps on the path to the promise of personalized medicine. As the science in this area evolves, we are moving from offering “one size fits all” medicines to a customized approach where we can identify those individuals who are most likely to benefit, and those who are not. This information will help patients and physicians make better decisions.
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we currently use biomarkers in most of our first-in-human studies. Pharmacogenomic studies, which combine traditional pharmaceutical sciences such as biochemistry with annotated knowledge of genes, proteins and single nucleotide polymorphisms, are run in nearly all our oncology projects to more precisely target patient populations. But these technologies will take time to fully deploy.
We use the latest technologies, including molecular profiling of micrograms of human tissues, detection of genetic alterations in a few drops of blood and assaying target proteins in tissue sections only a few microns thick. As these tools become more available to basic scientists, larger amounts of data from smaller samples will be available in less time than was possible just a few years ago.
“All of this is very exciting. We are going to change people’s lives with our science,” says Paul Rhyne, associate director, Bioanalytical Biomarker Team.
We welcome people who have a broad and solid background in molecular and cellular biology. While a biomarkers course is not readily available on most graduate or undergraduate curricula, if you understand how cells work in a normal state and how a disease may disrupt them, then you are well on your way to understanding how to identify clinical biomarkers.
A familiarity with new, high-throughput genomic technologies is considered a plus. Most of all, you must be passionate about translating great science into impactful clinical results that could change the lives of patients and their families.