The Institutes of Computer Science and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) participate in the National Network of Precision Medicine in Cardiology and the Prevention of Sudden Youthful Death, which is funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology.
The Network began its operation in July 2019, has a duration of two years, and is coordinated by the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre. Public Hospitals and Research Centers across the country participate in it. The Network's purpose is to ensure equality in the population's right to prevent sudden death and to manage hereditary cardiovascular diseases, utilizing advancements in genetics and the multiparametric approach to these conditions.
It creates an Information Bank with clinicogenetic correlations for these diseases, which forms the basis for a personalized approach to cardiac diseases in the near future. The registries upon which the Information Bank is based are: hereditary heart diseases, sudden youthful death, and anonymized genetic data of patients.
It is based on existing functional structures, located in Athens, Thessaloniki, and Crete, and will gradually expand throughout Greece.
The data collected by the Network will be used for:
✓ Immediate clinical and genetic screening of families with hereditary diseases and sudden youthful death.
✓ Diagnosis with appropriate management of members of these families, especially those with silent and subclinical forms of these dangerous diseases, or relatives who are carriers of pathological genes without yet showing any symptoms. It is noted that sudden death can be the first manifestation of these diseases, and indeed without a warning phase.
✓ Breaking the chain of heredity and interrupting the continuous transmission of these diseases to the next generation through preimplantation diagnosis (PGD) before pregnancy.
✓ The creation of the country's epidemiological map for hereditary heart diseases and sudden youthful death, which leads to the identification of areas with an increased prevalence of such phenomena.
This approach enables targeted and effective interventions by the country's public healthcare system, as identifying individuals with a hereditary disease and protecting them before an adverse event occurs is crucial.
The Institute of Computer Science at FORTH (ITE) is designing and implementing three systems: the Registry of Hereditary Heart Diseases, where clinical data from patients are stored by the Network's doctors; the Registry of Sudden Youthful Death, where forensic doctors record the results of autopsies; and finally, the Repository of Genetic Data, where the results of genetic tests from patients, deceased individuals, and the families of the deceased are stored.
The Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of FORTH (ITE) will participate through the targeted genetic analysis of clinical samples from families with hereditary diseases and/or sudden youthful death, utilizing next-generation sequencing technology.
Responsible for the above activity on behalf of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology is the President of FORTH (ITE), Professor of the School of Medicine at the University of Crete, Nektarios Tavernarakis. Meanwhile, responsible on behalf of the Institute of Computer Science is Eirini Fountoulaki, a Researcher at the Institute.
The Network began its operation in July 2019, has a duration of two years, and is coordinated by the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre. Public Hospitals and Research Centers across the country participate in it. The Network's purpose is to ensure equality in the population's right to prevent sudden death and to manage hereditary cardiovascular diseases, utilizing advancements in genetics and the multiparametric approach to these conditions.
It creates an Information Bank with clinicogenetic correlations for these diseases, which forms the basis for a personalized approach to cardiac diseases in the near future. The registries upon which the Information Bank is based are: hereditary heart diseases, sudden youthful death, and anonymized genetic data of patients.
It is based on existing functional structures, located in Athens, Thessaloniki, and Crete, and will gradually expand throughout Greece.
The data collected by the Network will be used for:
✓ Immediate clinical and genetic screening of families with hereditary diseases and sudden youthful death.
✓ Diagnosis with appropriate management of members of these families, especially those with silent and subclinical forms of these dangerous diseases, or relatives who are carriers of pathological genes without yet showing any symptoms. It is noted that sudden death can be the first manifestation of these diseases, and indeed without a warning phase.
✓ Breaking the chain of heredity and interrupting the continuous transmission of these diseases to the next generation through preimplantation diagnosis (PGD) before pregnancy.
✓ The creation of the country's epidemiological map for hereditary heart diseases and sudden youthful death, which leads to the identification of areas with an increased prevalence of such phenomena.
This approach enables targeted and effective interventions by the country's public healthcare system, as identifying individuals with a hereditary disease and protecting them before an adverse event occurs is crucial.
The Institute of Computer Science at FORTH (ITE) is designing and implementing three systems: the Registry of Hereditary Heart Diseases, where clinical data from patients are stored by the Network's doctors; the Registry of Sudden Youthful Death, where forensic doctors record the results of autopsies; and finally, the Repository of Genetic Data, where the results of genetic tests from patients, deceased individuals, and the families of the deceased are stored.
The Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of FORTH (ITE) will participate through the targeted genetic analysis of clinical samples from families with hereditary diseases and/or sudden youthful death, utilizing next-generation sequencing technology.
Responsible for the above activity on behalf of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology is the President of FORTH (ITE), Professor of the School of Medicine at the University of Crete, Nektarios Tavernarakis. Meanwhile, responsible on behalf of the Institute of Computer Science is Eirini Fountoulaki, a Researcher at the Institute.