Speaking on November 25 at an event organised by the Department of Life Sciences within the Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science (CATS), Alastair discussed the future of medicine, healthcare and genomics in the treatment of rare diseases.

“The key to progress, to changing the circumstances for people who are affected by these conditions, is the systematic and sustained investment in high-quality biomedical research,” he said.

“[We] need to make sure that the outcomes of that research are translated into new ways of thinking about disease and into new ways of organising services and support, in order that patients and their families can benefit.

“The knowledge that we are generating now will transform the future of healthcare.”

Genomics is a branch of science involving the sequencing of DNA, offering new ways of researching, diagnosing and treating genetic diseases.

“Fourteen years ago, we had the first draft of the human genome,” said Alastair, a member of the European Union Committee of Experts in Rare Diseases.

“It cost billions of dollars, took hundreds of scientists thousands of science years to work out but there it was, a huge step forward. That, today, is leading us into the era of genomic medicine.

“Today we can do whole genome sequencing pretty much overnight and the cost has fallen off a cliff. In 1995, sequencing a genome cost about $2.25b, today they’ve got it down to under $1,000 a genome.

“The capacity and the speed has escalated immeasurably.”

Placing genomics alongside the most influential developments in the history of medicine – stretching back through the discovery of the structure of DNA, the invention of antibiotics, and Ancient Greek humourism – Alastair foresees a future where common non-infectious diseases will be eradicated.

“We have a fantastic biological trajectory for our research,” he said. “There will be no more common non-infectious diseases in the future. There will be no more common cancers, common heart disease, common diabetes.

“What you’ve got are these superficially similar conditions fragmenting into genetically distinct subsets.”

What does this entail? In Alastair’s words, “a radical new way of thinking about how we identify the opportunity to create drugs and how we think about care pathways and the provision of care in the National Health Service”.

This is where the University of Bedfordshire comes in, suggested Alastair, with the latest batch of healthcare, nursing and life sciences students graduating during November.

“People embarking on careers with an interest in the life sciences and biomedicine will have to play a part if people are to benefit from your value, your insights and creativity, your intelligence and your commitment.

“Universities like this, with a big interest in life sciences and a huge capacity for training nurses and other healthcare professionals, will be going into the health service to staff the laboratories to provide the care, and into industry to develop the therapies.”

Alastair Kent was thanked for his inspiring lecture by Professor Jan Domin, Acting Executive Dean of CATS, who also expressed his gratitude to event organiser Dr Pinar Uysal-Onganer, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science.