Novo Nordisk Foundation and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launch research center for genomics

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has set up a new centre focused on genomics to help accelerate efforts to mine genetic data for insights into disease mechanisms and potentially design new treatments.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease has been set up by the pharma company, alongside the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The centre is being supported by a $47.5 million grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It will be based at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it  will generate systematic datasets that will help researchers around the world understand how human genetic variants affect risk for common complex diseases.

Initially, the Center will focus on facilitating a collaboration between the Broad Institute and researchers at Danish universities, where they are trying to better understand type 2 diabetes and obesity, whilst also mapping human gene regulation.  

The Center will align with existing international efforts, sharing data, methodology, and tools to contribute to the roadmap of the International Common Disease Alliance, and working in common cause with investigators from other large-scale efforts such as the Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Common Metabolic Diseases and the Impact of Genomic Variation on Function consortia.

The Center aims to advance patient-centred research and preision medicine and will establish an exchange programme, providing Danish scientists the opportunity to study genomic technologies at the Broad Institute.

“With its leading universities and hospitals, Boston is renowned as an international epicenter for biomedical research and innovation—and the Broad Institute has earned a reputation of being a key nexus in this rich ecosystem,” said Niels-Henrik von-Holstein-Rathlou, senior vice president, biomedicine and health sciences, the Novo Nordisk Foundation. “By establishing this new center with the Broad Institute, we seek to help drive global research in health for the benefit of many.”

“Starting with our roots in the Human Genome Project, the Broad community has long believed that international collaboration is critical to advancing our knowledge of human disease and getting benefits more quickly to patients,” said Todd Golub, director of the Broad Institute. “The Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease is a natural extension of our deep commitment to global collaborations but also our pursuit of foundational research.”

The Novo Nordisk will support the Center for a period of at least five years with the possibility of extending its agreement.