NEW YORK — UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) said Thursday that it has committed £28.5 million ($36.5 million) to establish the Human Functional Genomics Initiative (HFGI), a multi-institute research program focused on understanding the role of genomic variation in human physiology and disease.
Funding for the effort — provided by URKI's Medical Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council — includes £7 million that will be used to establish a functional genomics screening lab hosted at the Milner Therapeutics Institute and operated in collaboration with AstraZeneca and the University of Cambridge. The lab, UKRI said, will perform arrayed CRISPR genetic screening for HFGI researchers investigating noncancerous diseases including ones affecting the immune, cardiovascular, nervous, and respiratory systems. The lab could expand its work into other disease areas in the future.
Another £16.9 million will be used to fund functional genomics research clusters including one at the University of Edinburgh that aims to characterize discarded surgical tissue donated by National Health Service patients to study the molecular mechanisms of human disease. A second cluster at Imperial College will use a range of technologies to understand the effects of genetic variants associated with rare disease that alter amino acid and protein function, while a third at Kings College London will use brain organoid models to research the role of genetic variation in neurodevelopmental disorders.
A fourth cluster will operate out of the University of Oxford and use functional genomics to study musculoskeletal health and disease, identify new therapeutic targets, and provide tools and training to the research community.
Lastly, £4.6 million will be provided by the UKRI councils to support data coordination and networking, as well as collaboration among the program's research clusters and external partners.
"The development of novel experimental methods including gene-editing approaches, disease-relevant cell models, and whole-genome sequencing, alongside advances in data science and artificial intelligence, mean that now is the perfect time to launch an initiative aimed at systematically characterizing the functional consequences of disease-associated genetic variation," Jonathan Mill, a University of Exeter Medical School researcher and HFGI director, said in a statement.
"This initiative will catalyze research into the mechanistic underpinnings of health and disease by identifying causal variants and modeling their impact in disease-relevant cell types across key stages of development," Mill added. "It will facilitate innovation and collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, and accelerate the translation of functional genomic research into tangible benefits for health and well-being."