The United Kingdom is preparing to convert the London 2012
Olympics anti-doping center, which conducted more than 6,000
drug tests on athletes during the Olympic and Paralympic Games,
into a facility that could help revolutionize 21st century
health care. That new facility—the world's first national
"phenome center"—is the topic of a story in the current edition
of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). C&EN is the weekly
newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's
largest scientific society. Alex Scott, C&EN senior editor in
London, explains that a phenome describes a person's
chemistry—all of the molecules in the urine, tissue and blood
that result from a person's genetic makeup and environmental
influences. Experts say measuring the phenome can provide
scientists with more information about the causes of disease,
and this could help significantly change the way a wide range of
diseases is treated. The article describes key objectives for
the project. One is to create the world's first publicly