In light of the importance of research on precision, molecular, and personalized medicine, CeMM and the Medical University of Vienna hosted on March 6, 2017 a kick off meeting to celebrate the start of Pharmacoscopy, a novel high-content screening and imaging platform to break resistance of relapsed and refractory hematological malignancies - a true bench-to-bedside circle.

This meeting presented and celebrated the collaborative project between the Superti-Furga and Kubicek laboratories at CeMM and the Division of Hematology and Hemostaseology, Department of Internal Medicine I of the medical University of Vienna. The Pharmacoscopy platform is funded with the precision medicine grant from the WWTF (Wiener Wissenschafts-, Forschungs- und Technologiefonds / Vienna Science and Technology Fund) awarded to Giulio Superti-Furga and Ulrich Jäger.

The meeting began by reviewing the importance of the strong CeMM and MedUni Wien collaborative atmosphere that has propelled basic and translational science, as reiterated by the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation Michaela Fritz. Christoph Zelinski, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine I, touched upon ongoing precision medicine programs in the MedUni Wien such as the EXACT trial. Ulrich Jäger, Head of the Division of Hematology and Hemostaseology, further spoke about the need for personalized and precision medicine in the hematological space, where functional testing that will be used to meet the aims of the WWTF grant can synergize with genetic testing that is clinically routine.

CeMM scientific Director Giulio Superti-Furga and his Senior Postdoctoral Fellow Gregory Vladimer outlined the image-based screening platform that is the backbone of this program, and how the technology is currently being used for clinical utility. The meeting was finished by Ulrich Jäger presenting interim results of an ongoing clinical study aimed at describing the benefits of data generated through this collaboration for the treatment of patients.

The Pharmacoscopy project aims to break resistance of refractory blood cancers through ex vivo automated image-based analysis of drug action, and potentially drive clinical trials of already approved drugs in off-indication blood cancers. The approach provides a very concrete and actionable platform for precision medicine and the use of off-indication approved drugs for late stage hematological malignancies. The collaboration is tuned directly to unmet clinical needs of resistant blood cancer patients.