United Kingdom

The United Kingdom: The 100,000 Genomes Project

In 2012, the UK government unveiled the 100,000 Genomes Project, focusing on Whole Genome Sequencing for patients with cancers and rare diseases, and linking the genomic data to a medical database.

At a cost of about GBP 300 million, the Project involved 13 Genomic Medicine Centres, 85 National Health Service (NHS) Trusts, and 1,500 NHS staff (including clinicians, nurses, laboratory staff, pathologists and genetics counsellors).

Through this Project, a secure infrastructure was established for the protection and analysis of clinical and genomic data. This was made available for approved academic and industrial research purposes to promote the development of local genomic medicine and further reform the NHS.

Rare diseases and cancers were selected as the Project’s focus as they have shown strong potential to improve medical treatment, optimising benefits for patients and scientific development.

Please click here to learn more about the details of the Project.