The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) https://www.genome.gov within NIH www.nih.gov has awarded $18.9 million in research funds to accelerate the use of genome sequencing in clinical care.
The new grants will be used to develop methods needed to integrate genome sequencing into the practice of medicine, improve the discovery and interpretation of genomic variants, and investigate the impact of genome sequencing on healthcare outcomes.
At least 60 percent of participants connected with diverse or underserved settings include geographical areas such as Houston, Harlem, and the Bronx in New York. Recipients of the awards taking part in the research are located at:
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville Alabama
- Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland Oregon
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
- University of California, San Francisco
- Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
The research is being funded as part of the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER2) Consortium funded by NHGRI, and NCI www.cancer.gov. With this new round of funding, the CSER2 consortium will continue their efforts to generate evidence for the usefulness of genome sequencing in clinical care, but will focus especially on diverse and underserved individuals.
To accomplish this goal, NHGRI and NCI have partnered with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) www.nimhd.nih.gov to not only recruit and retain patients from diverse racial and ethnic groups but also recruit patients from understudied clinical healthcare settings where genomic medicine could potentially be put into practice.