NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Genomics England today announced the launch of the Clinical Interpretation Partnership (GeCIP) to bring together UK researchers and the National Health Service to translate findings from the 100,000 Genomes Project for use in the early diagnosis of diseases.
GeCIP will be "the route by which Genomics England will engage with the UK academic and healthcare community and their international collaborators to discover new biological insights into disease, elucidate functional impact, develop novel analytical approaches, and create high cadre expertise in genomic medicine," Genomics England said in a statement.
The partnership will provide researchers access to data from the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is focused on sequencing the whole genomes of patients with certain rare diseases and cancers. Interdisciplinary research teams in GeCIP will have three main roles — harnessing R&D enabled by the 100,000 Genomes Project to expand the knowledge of genomic medicine and its application in healthcare; providing clinical reporting and variant interpretation expertise; and training researchers and clinicians.
GeCIP is anticipated to focus on rare heart disease, breast cancer, rare inherited neurological disease, and other ailments that the 100,000 Genomes Project is currently tackling.
"We need a coalition of intellects to come together to interpret and use this incredible resource for the benefit of current and future patients," Mark Caulfield, chief scientist at Genomics England, said in a statement. "Typically it is only when researchers publish their research that it is considered for adoption into healthcare, which often takes a long time. It is our hope that introducing this novel interactive approach at the earliest phase of the 100,000 Genomes Project will lead to more rapid diagnosis and possibly new treatments for individuals affected by rare disease, cancer, and infection."