EU

The Common Infrastructure for National Cohorts in Europe, Canada, and Africa (CINECA) project looks to harmonize ontologies and create an interoperability platform for global genomics research.

The new multinational consortium, backed by the EU and Canada, seeks to improve understanding of immune responses and uncover new therapeutic targets.

Led by researchers at BBMRI-ERIC, the effort intends to clarify how entities should share data, including genomics information, across institutions and countries.

Seventeen European countries have signed a declaration to have a million genomes sequenced and shareable by 2022.

Consent — and the right to withdraw it — underlies the EU's newly effective General Data Protection Regulation for researchers in Europe and beyond.

The VISAGE consortium's efforts coincide with a push in Germany to allow DNA phenotyping and biogeographical ancestry testing in criminal investigations.