Jiangsu Government Unveils Plans to Sequence Genes of 1 Million Subjects
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Oct 30 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Jiangsu Government Unveils Plans to Sequence Genes of 1 Million Subjects Jiangsu Government Unveils Plans to Sequence Genes of 1 Million Subjects

(Yicai Global) Oct. 30 -- The government in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu has unveiled a plan to sequence the genes of 1 million subjects in hopes of creating a large DNA sequencing platform and biomedical big data analysis center in Nanjing as well as a genetic information database for Chinese.

Authorities announced the scheme at the China-US Precision Medicine Initiatives Nanjing Summit yesterday, Chinanews.com reported. Four experts from China and abroad will act as senior consultants on the project. One is George Church, a professor of genetics from Harvard University.

The National Health Medicine Big Data (Nanjing) Center will implement the gene sequencing plan. It has signed cooperation agreements with Fudan University, Nanjing Medical University, Peking Union Medical College Hospital and other institutions. The program will initially focus on population genetics, newborn babies and rare diseases.

The National Health Medicine Big Data (Nanjing) Center began building its facilities last October. USD902.28 million (CNY6 billion) has gone into the project. The center finished the first phase of its storage center last month. Its capacity of 52 petabytes can cover the health records of 80 million individuals and video materials from 174 of the province's hospitals, an insider said.

By introducing top-ranking gene sequencing enterprises, the center will be able to build a gene sequencing base with an annual sequencing capacity of 400,000 to 500,000 sets of genetic information.

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Keywords:   Nanjing,George Church,Gene Sequencing,Havard University,Fudan University