OUWB is on the forefront of revolutionizing health care through genetic sequencing and screening
When Ramin Homayouni, Ph.D., worked out, often he would take ibuprofen for inflammation and pain, and simply accepted that it would cause discomfort in his stomach.
Somewhere along the line, Homayouni also developed a gluten allergy.
Through a genetic screen, however, it wasn’t until last year that he connected the two conditions.
“It turns out I can’t metabolize ibuprofen, so for years I’ve been overdosing on it,” says Homayouni, a professor in the OUWB Department of Foundational Medical Studies and founding director of the school’s Population Health Informatics program.
“I was wrecking my gut,” he says. “If your gut is compromised, food leaks into your blood and you develop antibodies against your food…that’s most likely when I developed a gluten allergy.”
If Homayouni had known earlier that his genetics wouldn’t allow him to metabolize ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs), he could have found other ways to treat his pain. Likely he wouldn’t have had the discomfort in his stomach, nor would he have developed the gluten allergy.
In short, genetic screening could have improved quality of life for Homayouni — the kind of improvement, he says, many others could enjoy with the added benefit of keeping health care costs down.
And that’s exactly why Homayouni and many other partners are working on two major genetic sequencing research projects that fall under the umbrella of what has become known as precision health.
(Only partial stories are posted here with hopes to provide a brief overview and introduction to my most recent work. The full version of this story may be found on the OUWB InMedicine site here.)
