NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BGI and Portuguese startup Coimbra Genomics today announced a project to investigate the genetic basis of gastric cancer, the second most common cause of cancer after lung cancer.
The project is initially being funded with $900,000 and will involve researchers from the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology at the University of Porto in Portugal, or IPATIMUP, a cancer research institute with "a particularly strong track record [in] gastric cancer," the partners said.
They said that each year there are almost 1 million new cases of gastric cancer, with the disease especially prevalent in East and Southeast Asia, as well as in Latin America, and parts of Eastern and Southern Europe.
"This collaboration forges new ties between BGI and Coimbra Genomics to share and exchange knowledge and research ideas," Yuan Liu, Europe business development director of BGI Tech, a BGI affiliate, said in a statement.