There is no singular human biology. Each of us has a unique cellular and molecular fingerprint based on our exposures and experiences. This shapes systems level interactions that alter our predispositions to disease and physiological responses to therapeutics. Canonical paradigms of drug development ignore much of this biological heterogeneity, but now we can understand the differences that exist among us in order to discover and develop therapies that work for all of us.
Heterogeneity of disease makes effective therapies especially difficult to develop. Pathways and disease targets can be dissected using reductionist approaches, however, pathologies and drug responses are the result of highly coordinated processes between complex biological systems. Intervening in this nuanced choreography requires the study of intact physiological networks in more representative models.
Advancements in data acquisition have helped expand our knowledge of important factors that impact health and these technologies now enable us to measure our biology at an unprecedented resolution. With complementary innovation in data and computational sciences, we leverage immense amounts of heterogenous, multi-modal data to gain a more complete view of health, disease, and drug response, leading to an unprecedented understanding human biodiversity on an individual level.