‘Shaping the future of personalized therapy together’

The mission of the Personalized Medicine Research Institute (PRECISION) is to facilitate and stimulate fundamental and translational research on innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to enhance personalization of care.

Within the PRECISION institute, both fundamental and applied clinical research is conducted on next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Our focus includes (digital) medical technologies, novel therapeutic strategies- particularly those involving personalized and targeted approaches, and immunological processes underlying disease to advance immune modulatory therapies and personalized care. To achieve these objectives, PRECISION serves as a platform to connect researchers from diverse fields, including biomedical technology, molecular imaging, digital health, transplantation, microbiology, immunology, vaccination, genetics, and pharmacy. The Personalized Medicine Research Institute (PRECISION) was established in 2023 and is a collaboration between the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and the Groningen Research Institute for Pharmacy (GRIP)/Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen (UG).

PRECISION contains 14 research programmes that are divided over three key research themes:

Theme 1: Innovative technologies for diagnostics, treatment and transplantation.

Within this theme, we focus on the development of novel medical technologies to identify and monitor disease, to improve (specificity of) treatments and to enhance survival after transplantation. 

Research programmes involved in this theme are Basic and Translational Research and Imaging Methodology Development in Groningen (BRIDGE), Robotics and image-guided minimally-invasive surgery (ROBOTICS), Digital Healthcare (DH), and Groningen Institute for Organ Transplantation (GIOT).

Theme 2: Drug development and therapeutic strategies

The focus of this theme is the improvement of drug therapies by discovery of novel drug targets, development of new (small molecule and biological) drug entities and therapeutic strategies, improved delivery of these drugs, and evaluation of drug use in the real world (from preclinical to application). 

The research programmes that address these topics are: Medicinal Chemistry and Bioanalysis (MCB), Biopharmaceuticals, Discovery, Design and Delivery (BDDD), Nanotechnology and Biophysics in Medicine (NANOBIOMED), Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD (GRIAC), PharmacoEpidemiology, -Genetics, -Economics and -Therapy (PEGET).

Theme 3: Microbes, inflammation and immunity

Within this theme, conditions in which homeostasis is disturbed by pathogens or imbalances in host and inflammatory pathways are addressed to advance immunomodulatory therapies and vaccine development.  

The research programmes that are included in this theme are: Microbes in Health and Disease (MHD) , Translational Immunology Groningen (TRIGR), Groningen Institute for Gastro Intestinal Genetics and Immunology (3GI), Critical care, Anesthesiology, Peri-operative and Emergency medicine (CAPE), Man, Biomaterials and Microbes (MBM).