Cancer and neurodegeneration meet

What is molecular medicine? My view is that it is the scientific discipline that applies the tool-box of molecular biology to understand the pathogenesis of disease. Ideally such work translates into novel diagnostics and novel drug targets and treatments. It is clear that molecular medicine is not only borrowing knowledge and tools from other life sciences, but the field is itself also driving the development of novel technologies and the creation of new insights in biology. In fact, the nature of molecular medicine research, oriented towards pathophysiological processes, systems and models makes this field one of the spearheads of the rapid evolution in life sciences. Molecular genetics is exemplary in that regard; the massive investments made to sequence and annotate the human genome and to refine the analysis of genetic information were only possible because of the idea that medical benefits will emerge down the line. Obviously all life sciences profit from this boost.