From personalized medicine to personalized science: uniting science and medicine for patient-driven, goal-oriented research.

We developed a new model for initiating, coordinating, funding, and managing biomedical research projects. The concept involves engaging the patients with chronic conditions with no known cures into goal-oriented research activities. In this model, the patient seeks the help of a research organization to bring together a multidisciplinary team of research scientists and physicians to initiate research projects using the patient's grant funding, samples, as well as the management expertise. This model may be of interest to other research institutions because it has many benefits, including new sources of private research funding, when government funding is getting scarce, motivating scientists and physicians to work closely together on goal- and patient-oriented research projects, and using patients' management skills.