Estonia hosted NSHG-PM 2023 workshop “Precision Medicine: The Bridge from Research to Healthcare” on June 19-21. Neeme Tõnisson, activity leader of the EIT Health-supported BRIGHT project and Professor of Clinical Genetics at the Institute of Genomics / Estonian Biobank University of Tartu, took part in the round table discussion on polygenic risk scores in clinical applications. He also presented results from a number of studies involving genetic risk factors in Estonian Biobank participants, as well as in participants of the ongoing BRIGHT study.

The panelists Kristi Läll, Joeri Meijsen, Elisabeth Widen and Neeme Tõnisson established that when it comes to polygenic risk scores we are at the beginning of a long journey. It turned in to a lively discussion over current possibilities and limitations to using PRS as well as future potentials for further studies and methods in developing screening programmes. 

The Nordic region could potentially become a pilot for new uses of PRS because we have more data to use and the trust from the public in general. The Nordic Society of Human Genetics and Precision Medicine was created in order to establish a Nordic framework for research into the genetics of human diseases.