NIH Commits $260M to Centers for Common Disease Genomics
- By BSTQ Staff
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will spend $260 million over four years to fund four genome sequencing and analysis centers whose research is expected to focus on understanding the genomic bases of common and rare human diseases. The goal of the new Centers for Common Disease Genomics (CCDG), which will be funded through NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), is to improve understanding of how genomic differences among people influence disease risk and to develop models for future studies of common disease.
CCDG investigators will focus initially on cardiovascular, metabolic and and neuropsychiatric diseases, but other disorders are also being considered, including inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, bone and skeletal diseases and Alzheimer’s disease. NIH expects as many as 150,000 to 200,000 genomes to be sequenced. “These studies will reveal genomic variants that may increase the risk for — or, in some cases, protect against — diseases, which eventually might be helpful for their clinical management,” said Adam Felsenfeld, PhD, director of the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program.
