Despite the hype generated by the Genomics revolution, hardly any outputs produced in ‘omics’ research projects actually lead to the development of commercial products. Notable examples of developments that have made it into medical practice are tests such as Oncotype Dx (a 21-gene assay that provides an individualized prediction of chemotherapy benefit) and MammaPrint (a microarray-based gene signature [...]
On organisational culture and challenge-driven innovation
On organisational culture Recently, my management team and I have started a debate about what culture the CPGR (www.cpgr.org.za) has and what aspects of it we’d like to maintain or change in the interest of the organisation’s long-term success. Often, when we hear or talk about culture, we refer to values shared by individuals and [...]
Developing a framework for measuring the impact of a biotech social enterprise – Part 2: Publications
One of the key roles the CPGR is playing is the work we do with the South African academic community – a service for which we charge zero Rand and zero cents. But what value are we creating by doing this? What impacts are we having? This is where the Social Benefits-Costs Ratio (SBCR) framework [...]
Fixes that fail in ‘omics’ research and translation
I have recently explored the development of the biggest Genomics facility in the world at present, the BGI in China, to contextualize what kind of role Africa can play in the ‘omics’ revolution. Here, I am starting to investigate some of the challenges the ‘omics’ discipline is experiencing as it generates increasing amounts of data at increasingly [...]