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Pharmacogenomics Center

Pharmacogenomics is the study of a patient’s genetic profile and its relationship to and influence on his or her response to medication. It helps to personalize medicine by adapting medication to the patient’s genetic profile.

As part of an overall strategy aimed at developing and implementing personalized medicine, the Université de Montréal and the Montreal Heart Institute, with the exceptional support of two generous donors, pooled their efforts to build the Université de Montréal’s Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre at the Montreal Heart Institute. This project also received a significant financial contribution from the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation.

Thanks to a major grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Quebec, the Montreal Heart Institute developed an ultra-modern infrastructure with leading-edge technologies at the Université de Montréal’s (UdeM) Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre. This infrastructure complies with and maintains operating procedures that meet the highest known standards. The Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre is the first centre in Canada to implement these operating standards in an academic and hospital setting.

Following the successful creation and construction of the Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre, the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI), in partnership with Génome Québec, deployed a modern operational platform in pharmacogenomics at the Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre, one that meets the highest scientific and technological standards and includes technological platforms featuring the leading-edge innovations. In accordance with the strategy centred on personalized medicine, one of the chief objectives of this platform concerns the development of innovative applications in genomics and proteomics and their integration into clinical services. By developing our understanding of genes influencing the effectiveness and toxicity of medications in a clinical environment, the Montreal Heart Institute also aims to improve supervision and advice to professionals in health care systems, thus helping them to choose the appropriate medication and dosage, and, ultimately, to improve public health care.

More specifically, the pharmacogenomic platform adopted by the Montreal Heart Institute and Génome Québec supports requirements and offers pharmacogenomics services to the entire Université de Montréal RUIS, to other university health networks, and to its academic and industrial partners. It is made up of two separate sections: a technological sub-platform responsible for the development of methodological tools and approaches, and a sub-platform supporting its clinical activities, including the collection of DNA samples, the preservation and management of DNA and tissue banks in environments compliant with Good Laboratory Practice standards, and the development and maintenance of necessary procedures and close ties with the clinical research activities, including the Montreal Heart Institute Coordinating Centre. This sub-platform is also responsible for developing and managing the analytical and statistical tools needed to successfully accomplish the mission of the entire platform.

The activities of the Université de Montréal’s Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre are part of an overall project aimed at jointly developing personalized medicine in partnership in particular with the Montreal Heart Institute Coordinating Centre, the Centre of Excellence in Personalized Medicine, as well as the new platform dedicated to the discovery, development and validation of biomarkers.

Finally, the Université de Montréal’s Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre and the pharmacogenomics platform are precious tools with which to develop the knowledge economy in Montreal, Quebec and Canada, particularly as partner organizations with companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnical sector.
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Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre