Precision medicine has gone far beyond a buzzy phrase and is now a reality in the treatment of certain diseases including cancer and a range of other chronic diseases. Personalising treatment through genetic profiling and data analysis, where treatments are tailored to an individual, should achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. However, this requires the fusion of many technologies and skill sets. RCSI’s state-of-the-art Masters programme in Technologies and Analytics in Precision Medicine (MScTAPM) aims to address this skills gap and produce the biological data scientists that the pharmaceutical industry say are vital if precision medicine is to become the norm.
The full time Masters course fuses the latest in genetic and genomics research with data analytics and computational biology, including programming, to give graduates the ability to analyse and interpret healthcare data. Graduates will also learn the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning on drug discovery and the broader healthcare sector, as well as how to employ these tools and techniques to identify patterns in biological data sets. “These patterns will help us diagnose patients earlier, predict treatment response and tailor therapy accordingly,” says Dr Sudipto Das, programme director, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences (PBS) at RCSI.
These critical skill sets are in high demand across an industry that is undergoing an evolution. The significant growth in the programme is in direct response to the demand for these skills, Das says.
According to Das, the sheer magnitude of this growth area cannot be understated as the health sector finally begins to utilise the breadth of data that is available. The market size for precision medicine was $102.17 billion (€99.40 billion) in 2024 but it is already projected that this will grow to $119 billion (€116 billion) in 2025.
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With this exponential growth comes a deficit in the core skill sets that are required to make precision medicine a reality. The biological data scientists are the individuals who will analyse and interpret healthcare data to ultimately fill that gap between biological data collection and actual clinical decision-making, Das explains.
“The question asked nowadays on precision medicine is, ‘will this drug work in person A or person B?’ If you can identify this, then you can save the person unnecessary treatment and potential side effects, as well as costs to patients and the wider healthcare system,” he says. “Some patients will respond, others won’t and some might even develop adverse drug reactions. The reason for this disparity in response comes from the fact that everybody is unique.”
This makes clinical decision-making significantly more difficult but ultimately will lead to a better outcome, Das points out. “The gap must be filled by someone who understands the data, can analyse it and interpret it and effectively predict why they think ‘drug x’ may not work on a particular patient. This is the role of the biological data scientist and the master’s programme is aiming to give participants the skills to do exactly that.”
These newly-emerging experts will be pivotal in driving innovation in the coming years, says Das. “They will be identifying new ways of stratifying patients to tailored therapies and identifying biomarkers to determine response before we even commence treatment.” He also notes that course participants will learn to handle a wide variety of data types, not just that coming from biological samples, but also data from wearables and gadgets. “Digital and connected health is now huge. These biological data scientists will be sitting at the intersection of biology, computer sciences and statistics and playing a pivotal role.”
Indeed, a diverse range of graduates have entered the programme since its inception – from biology and science graduates to experts in computer science and data analysis.
“The computer science graduates know how to analyse data and do the number crunching that is required but they don’t understand the biology so they come with their skill sets of coding and data analytics, but they then learn about the biological significance of this data and how to interpret it accordingly,” Das explains. “Similarly, the biological science graduates understand the health aspects but need to learn coding and data analysis. It is a pivotal programme in this sense, allowing post graduates to take their skill set and combine it with another for a high demand career.”
He adds that this role also carries a huge amount of purpose – analysing data with the end goal of improving patient outcomes and saving lives. “There is a huge translational aspect to this programme, in that we are putting the patient at the centre and that aligns with RCSI’s own ethos as a patient-centric health sciences university,” he explains.
The footprint of the pharma industry in Ireland continues to grow at a blistering pace with new biotech start-ups emerging, and long-established multinational pharma companies expanding their presence and investing heavily in their Irish sites. Das says graduates are already in high demand in an industry that is undergoing a significant shift in terms of innovation and drug discovery. “This is a future-focused programme in that the graduates will emerge ready to deal with these changes that are rapidly emerging in the healthcare landscape.”
“Precision medicine and data analysis is the future of the pharmaceutical industry,” states Kennedy unequivocally.
Richard Kennedy is global vice-president and medical director of Almac Diagnostic Services, which is headquartered in Northern Ireland and has laboratory facilities across Europe, North America and partnership labs in APAC. He explains that he and his colleagues at Almac have worked closely with RCSI on the development of the MSc, helping to guide the topic selection for the curriculum and ensure it is “highly relevant” to industry. The organisation also offers industry project opportunities for the MScTAPM students.
“Precision medicine and data analysis is the future of the pharmaceutical industry,” states Kennedy unequivocally. “It’s also increasingly important from an economics point of view that we give the right treatments to the people who will respond best to them. This means people coming out of university now need to be able to analyse patient data, including biomarker test results, and apply artificial intelligence techniques that can better guide treatments. This will be huge in the next decade, so knowledge of it will be crucial.”
People with this specific skill set are currently in short supply across healthcare, adds Kennedy. “Within the industry at the moment there is definitely an unmet need for people who can understand and analyse these data as they pertain to health.”
An in-person open day for the MScTAPM programme will be held at RCSI, St Stephen’s Green, on February 1st, 2025. Register now at rcsi.com/mtapm