Center for Genetics & Therapeutics

The Center for Genetics and Therapeutics is dedicated to understanding the genetic basis of diseases that are common in patients cared for at National Jewish Health. This new Center will build on the scientific and clinical strengths at National Jewish Health by developing programs to understand how genes work in biological systems, how genetic variants contribute to the development of disease, and why individuals with the same disease have very different results due to the treatment. These approaches will enable clinicians to develop innovative approaches to disease prevention, early diagnosis and personalized therapeutic intervention.

In practice: National Jewish Health researchers recently identified a genetic mutation that alters the response of asthma patients to the medication albuterol. Advanced diagnostics will help determine which patients have that mutation so that physicians will know who should and should not receive that medication.