LifeTime Concept - The Medicine of the Future in Europe?

Medical flagship should revolutionize diagnosis and therapies

To make reliable prognoses and diagnoses about diseases, to know the exact time of the outbreak, and to anticipate the course of disease - this dream of humanity could soon become reality, if one believes the scientists who now publish a visionary concept for a "medical flagship". Essentially, the following aspects should be realized:

• The diagnosis of many diseases should be improved.
• New talents and technologies should be established and promoted.
• Mechanisms of aging and processes in diseases should be better understood.
• Individually designed therapies should be developed.
• New goals for drug development will be shown.

The application has already been submitted by leading researchers, according to a press release from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine. The project called LifeTime is waiting for the start. A European consortium is planning to implement the ambitious project, which is to receive EUR 1 billion. The aim is to create a medical flagship that will primarily use the latest technologies of single cell biology.

Using state-of-the-art technologies, the LifeTime project aims to observe individual cells temporally and spatially in order to better understand the effects of diseases and aging processes. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com)

The book of life

Scientists and the media like to refer to the genome as the "book of life". Those who "read" in it also know how genetic predisposition and disease are related. Scientists around the world are trying to understand how our body cells decode this "book".

Single-cell technology of the next generation

The so-called omics technologies are experiencing rapid development. For example, thousands of gene products can be measured using a single tissue sample, which used to require tens of thousands of cells. The resolutions in the molecular representations now extend to individual cells within tissues and organs.

The goal of LifeTime

The scientists want to use the new flagship project to track the molecular composition of human cells temporally and spatially. Thus, the mechanisms of aging and processes in diseases should be better understood. In order to ensure effective collaboration and to better use and establish new technologies, the scientists have launched the LifeTime consortium.

Use of artificial intelligence

Single-cell technologies often use experimental model systems. Models explore how cells stay healthy or become ill and how they react to drugs. Because such experiments generate huge amounts of data, LifeTime research will use computer-aided strategies that also leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence. With this combined approach, the researchers want to improve early diagnostic options, set trailers for drug development and enable individualized therapies.

Medical technology from all sciences

The LifeTime concept combines technologies from various fields such as biology, computer science, mathematics, pathology, imaging and physics. The LifeTime project aims to attract new talent and integrate all European scientists who can make an important contribution. The aim of this network is to overcome institutional boundaries, promote young talent and improve the entire infrastructure for the European life sciences. (Vb)