How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects

Abstract An increasing number of countries are investing efforts to exploit the human genome, in order to improve genetic diagnostics and to pave the way for the integration of precision medicine into health systems. The expected benefits include improved understanding of normal and pathological gen...

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Main Authors: Anja Kovanda, Ana Nyasha Zimani, Borut Peterlin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2021-03-01
Series:Human Genomics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-021-00315-6
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author Anja Kovanda
Ana Nyasha Zimani
Borut Peterlin
author_facet Anja Kovanda
Ana Nyasha Zimani
Borut Peterlin
author_sort Anja Kovanda
collection DOAJ
description Abstract An increasing number of countries are investing efforts to exploit the human genome, in order to improve genetic diagnostics and to pave the way for the integration of precision medicine into health systems. The expected benefits include improved understanding of normal and pathological genomic variation, shorter time-to-diagnosis, cost-effective diagnostics, targeted prevention and treatment, and research advances. We review the 41 currently active individual national projects concerning their aims and scope, the number and age structure of included subjects, funding, data sharing goals and methods, and linkage with biobanks, medical data, and non-medical data (exposome). The main aims of ongoing projects were to determine normal genomic variation (90%), determine pathological genomic variation (rare disease, complex diseases, cancer, etc.) (71%), improve infrastructure (59%), and enable personalized medicine (37%). Numbers of subjects to be sequenced ranges substantially, from a hundred to over a million, representing in some cases a significant portion of the population. Approximately half of the projects report public funding, with the rest having various mixed or private funding arrangements. 90% of projects report data sharing (public, academic, and/or commercial with various levels of access) and plan on linking genomic data and medical data (78%), existing biobanks (44%), and/or non-medical data (24%) as the basis for enabling personal/precision medicine in the future. Our results show substantial diversity in the analysed categories of 41 ongoing national projects. The overview of current designs will hopefully inform national initiatives in designing new genomic projects and contribute to standardisation and international collaboration.
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spelling doaj.art-b23c5351ab7a416d9904cbf53d356d842022-12-22T02:08:21ZengBMCHuman Genomics1479-73642021-03-0115111310.1186/s40246-021-00315-6How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projectsAnja Kovanda0Ana Nyasha Zimani1Borut Peterlin2Clinical Institute of Genomic Medicine, University Medical Centre LjubljanaClinical Institute of Genomic Medicine, University Medical Centre LjubljanaClinical Institute of Genomic Medicine, University Medical Centre LjubljanaAbstract An increasing number of countries are investing efforts to exploit the human genome, in order to improve genetic diagnostics and to pave the way for the integration of precision medicine into health systems. The expected benefits include improved understanding of normal and pathological genomic variation, shorter time-to-diagnosis, cost-effective diagnostics, targeted prevention and treatment, and research advances. We review the 41 currently active individual national projects concerning their aims and scope, the number and age structure of included subjects, funding, data sharing goals and methods, and linkage with biobanks, medical data, and non-medical data (exposome). The main aims of ongoing projects were to determine normal genomic variation (90%), determine pathological genomic variation (rare disease, complex diseases, cancer, etc.) (71%), improve infrastructure (59%), and enable personalized medicine (37%). Numbers of subjects to be sequenced ranges substantially, from a hundred to over a million, representing in some cases a significant portion of the population. Approximately half of the projects report public funding, with the rest having various mixed or private funding arrangements. 90% of projects report data sharing (public, academic, and/or commercial with various levels of access) and plan on linking genomic data and medical data (78%), existing biobanks (44%), and/or non-medical data (24%) as the basis for enabling personal/precision medicine in the future. Our results show substantial diversity in the analysed categories of 41 ongoing national projects. The overview of current designs will hopefully inform national initiatives in designing new genomic projects and contribute to standardisation and international collaboration.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-021-00315-6National genomic projectsPrecision medicinePersonalized medicineNormal genomic variationPathological genomic variationPopulation genomics
spellingShingle Anja Kovanda
Ana Nyasha Zimani
Borut Peterlin
How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
Human Genomics
National genomic projects
Precision medicine
Personalized medicine
Normal genomic variation
Pathological genomic variation
Population genomics
title How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
title_full How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
title_fullStr How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
title_full_unstemmed How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
title_short How to design a national genomic project—a systematic review of active projects
title_sort how to design a national genomic project a systematic review of active projects
topic National genomic projects
Precision medicine
Personalized medicine
Normal genomic variation
Pathological genomic variation
Population genomics
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-021-00315-6
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