The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIS) and the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have outlined their plans for a master database that comprises the whole-genome sequencing of over one million people in what could cost the Obama administration $215 million.
The project is part of the precision medicine campaign of the Obama government, and it follows after what is already happening in the UK to perfect a more personalized medical care that is reliant on the body of individual histories in the huge database. Researchers will take a deep dive into the biology of each participant, characterizing their cell populations, proteins, metabolites, RNA and DNA, performing whole-genome sequencing when money permits. These data will be paired with behavioral details and linked to electronic health records.
This project will allow for the researching and creation of target drugs, and it will improve drug discovery. This database project will utilize existing resources and new studies to accumulate data on the behavior, health, and biology of over a million people; and it will piggyback on other similar projects to prevent duplication of data.
This precision medicine database project comes with technical and financial challenges. The NIH has received $130 million for a 1-million-person database; while the UK gave out $150 million for its 100,000 Genomes Project. The NIH will be utilizing the $130 million by making use of data from other existing studies as well as piggybacking on others. NIH director Francis Collins however cited interoperability as a potentially stumbling block.
Obama’s budget proposal also includes $5 million to help develop interoperability standards and data security systems. The NCI and FDA will also be receiving $70 million and $10 million respectively – and this is what makes up the total $215 million for the whole project. NCI will use its money to study the genomic drivers of cancer, while the FDA is tasked with developing a new approach to regulation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies.