NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program issued a funding announcement today for Genome Centers to generate genotype and whole-genome sequence data from the samples submitted by participants in the program.
The information produced by the Genome Centers will become an important component in the program's precision medicine research platform, the agency said. The program plans to fund up to two Genome Center awards in 2018, with analyses to begin in the fall. Applicants may request funds to generate and analyze genotype data from 100,000 participants in the first year while also beginning to sequence whole genomes from the submitted biosamples. In the remaining years of the anticipated five-year project period, applicants may request funds for whole-genome sequencing for as many as 200,000 participants annually, NIH added.
Applications will be evaluated on teams' technical approach, plans to scale up operations, capabilities to operate a clinical validation laboratory, experience, past performance, and cost proposal, as well as other considerations related to programmatic priority.
The agency said in March that it anticipated making a funding announcement in May, in anticipation of the launch of All of Us in the spring.
Applications for funds are due on July 12. Additional information can be found here.
All of Us is also planning a pilot study in the coming months on the responsible return of genetic information to participants, which will include education and genetic counseling, as part of the program's commitment to make all participant data available to participants themselves, NIH said.