UK launches world's largest genome project

The UK is to lead a £200 million genomics project in collaboration with four pharmaceutical companies in what’s being described as one of most ambitious programmes ever undertaken.

The public-private collaboration aims to fully sequence the genetic code of the 500,000 participants who took part in the UK Biobank project between 2006 and 2010.

By working with pharma companies Amgen, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson, as well as research charity Wellcome Sanger Institute, the project hopes to garner enough sequence data to increase our understanding of diseases such as cancer and dementia and how best to treat them.  

Half of the funding for the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) project comes from the government’s research innovation arm, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, with the other half coming from the pharma companies involved.

The project generate vast amounts of data equivalent to around 600 billion pages of text which will require unique technical expertise to store and analyse.

The genetic data generated will be linked to other clinical and lifestyle data for each volunteer in UK Biobank in a bid to understand why certain people develop particular diseases.

To help the main sequencing programme run smoothly, the data of the first 50,000 individuals will be involved in a pilot programme organised by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Following this, the data of the remaining 450,000 participants will be sequenced in two tranches. It’s hoped that all of the sequencing data will be available by early 2023. Anonymised data will be made available to industry collaborators for none months after both phases are complete.

Commenting on the announcement, business secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “[The] funding will support one of the world’s most ambitious genome sequencing programmes ever undertaken, reflecting the UK’s determination to remain at the forefront of scientific endeavour and progress.

“Its results could transform the field of genetic repeated research - unlocking the causes of some of the most terrible diseases and how we can best tackle them. It will be a major step forward for individually tailored treatment plans and will help us better understand why some people get certain diseases while others don’t”.

Sir Mark Walport, chief executive of UK Research and Innovation said:

“As one of the half million participants in UK BioBank, I’m very excited by the potential of the Whole Genome Sequencing Project, which will sequence the genetic code of everyone in UK BioBank to help develop novel and personalised forms of healthcare.

“UK BioBank is globally unique in the depth and quality of the information that it contains about so many people in health and disease. Adding whole genome sequencing data to this will provide major opportunities to improve how we prevent, diagnose and treat the chronic conditions that afflict so many of us as we live longer lives.”

Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “Whole genome sequencing on this scale is unprecedented, and through this collaboration we hope to unlock the potential of genomics to evolve our understanding of complex diseases such as cancer, heart disease and chronic kidney disease.

“These new insights will guide our drug discovery programme and will help us bring innovative new precision medicines to patients who need them most urgently.”