New centres selected to lead 100,000 Genomes project

The Department of Health has announced the 11 centres across England that have been chosen to deliver the three-year 100,000 Genomes project.

They are based across the country, covering areas including Greater Manchester, the north-west coast, Oxford, Birmingham and the West Midlands, Southampton, London, Cambridge and the east of England, Exeter and the south-west peninsula, and the North East.

Over the lifetime of the project, NHS England hopes to secure the participation of more than 100 NHS trusts for the initiative, which is intended to collect and decode 100,000 human genomes.

The overall goal is to improve diagnosis and treatment for patients with cancer and rare diseases by helping scientists and doctors to understand more about specific conditions.

Professor Mark Caulfield, chief scientist at Genomics England, said: "We have a clear goal of accelerating the findings from the programme back into mainstream healthcare at the fastest possible pace, meaning more rapid results for patients."

Around 40,000 NHS patients are expected to benefit directly from the research, allowing genomics-based medicine to become a mainstream treatment approach.