Three Barcelona, Spain-based research institutions launched the first Joint Program on Evolutionary Medical Genomics last week at an inaugural symposium held at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park.
The program is a collaboration between the Centre for Genomic Regulation, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, and the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva. The mission of the initiative is to bring researchers together from different areas to promote the application of evolutionary approaches to better understand the molecular roots of disease and improve human health, the program said in a statement.
The Evolutionary Medical Genomics (EvoMG) program will work across the emerging disciplines of evolutionary medicine and medical genomics. Medical genomics furnishes insights into the genetic bases of human disease through genomic data, while evolutionary medicine offers a complementary approach to better understand disease and pathogens, EvoMG explained.
"Understanding the evolutionary history of our genomes is not just an academic exercise but a crucial step toward personalized medicine," ICREA Research Professor Manuel Irimia, PhD, the coordinator of EvoMG, said. "By studying genomic diversity across species, populations, and even individual cells, we can gain unprecedented insights into how disease mechanisms have evolved through the history of life on Earth."
While biomedical research has traditionally focused on physical and molecular causes of disease, EvoMG aims to explore why humans might have evolved to be susceptible to particular diseases in the first place and how evolution can be used to manage these disorders.
"The collaboration between our institutions will allow us to approach complex medical challenges from multiple angles," Irimia said
Evolutionary medicine and medical genomics research have resulted in real-world practical applications, EvoMG noted, such as evolutionary analyses of SARS-CoV-2 genomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling tracking the virus's spread and predicting new variants. Evolutionary models of cancer have led to adaptive therapies, several of which are already in clinical trials. Antibiotic resistance is another area where evolutionary insights have proven to be critical. The EvoMG program has been backed by provisional funding of one million euros from the Generalitat de Catalunya.
