Personalized Medicine in the Genomics Era: highlights from an international symposium on childhood heart disease

As the population of childhood heart disease survivors grows, a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of heart disease is needed to improve diagnostics, therapeutics and outcomes. The Trans-Atlantic Research Network, GenomeHeart and The SickKids Heart Centre Biobank hosted an international symposium on childhood heart disease titled ‘Personalized Medicine in the Genomics Era’. Experts in cardiology, developmental biology, genomics, pharmacology, bioinformatics, stem cell biology, ethics and biobanking shared their knowledge and expertise. The 2-day symposium hosted participants from North America, Europe and Asia including scientists, physicians, nurses, trainees and representatives from industry partners, federal and provincial funding agencies, and patient and community groups. The symposium focused on international research partnerships and application of current state-of-the-art in genomics and stem cell medicine towards personalized healthcare for childhood onset heart disease.