The 100,000 Genomes Project is a combination of caring for patients and using genomic medicine to change how patients are treated in the National Health Service (NHS), UK, observed Mark Caulfield, Co-director of William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI), Centre Lead for Clinical Pharmacology, UK.
Prof. Caulfield said to sequence 100,000 genomes over four years is immensely ambitious and has never been done on this scale anywhere in the world before. The project is focusing on patients with rare diseases, and their families, as well as patients with common cancers, he said delivering the Distinguished Lecture on the 100,000 whole genome sequencing project at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Tuesday.
The project is currently in its pilot phase and it is expected that a lot will be learnt during this time to inform the next stages. Prof. Caulfield gave an account of the research carried out by the team on Hypertension and Cancer. He stated that one of his team members had proved that a daily intake of 250ml of beetroot juice has the same effect on lowering blood pressure that a medicine does.
He stated that there are significant benefits for patients with a rare disease, many of whom currently have no formal diagnosis. For them, whole genome sequencing can increase the chances of diagnosis.
