Individualized Medicine is a key topic for the development of future health care provisions. The objective is to use state-of-the-art diagnostics and novel therapeutic interventions that take into account the specific requirements and characteristics of the individual patient in order to increase the effectiveness of treatments, avoid unwanted adverse reactions and significantly reduce health care costs. The GANI_MED consortium unites expertise from selected national and international academic and industrial partners in a broad interdisciplinary approach. GANI_MED was initiated by the Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald which possesses a high potential for Individualized Medicine. Apart from one of the newest university hospitals in Germany researchers in Greifswald can access extensive basic epidemiological data from the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) about the health state of a representative cross-section of the regional population.

The research consortium GANI_MED avails of these resources to systematically develop innovative analytical procedures that allow new insight into individual differences during the formation, progression and treatment of medically and societally relevant diseases. The necessary infrastructure (e.g. for biobanking, bioinformatics and medical informatics) is strengthened in a coordinated manner. By tightly integrating clinical research GANI_MED intends to ascertain whether and which promising individualization concepts are suited for the treatment of patients. Besides, the scientists consider the implications of Individualized Medicine in terms of ethics and health economics.

By supporting this unique and comprehensive approach with a five-year grant the Federal Ministry of Education and Research provides the researchers in Greifswald with the potential to turn their research location into an important and internationally renowned research and development centre for the promising field of Individualized Medicine.