Morant announces that Spain will contribute to the creation of Europe's largest DNA catalogue, which will help prevent diseases

The Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, has announced Spain's participation in the 'Genome of Europe (GoE)' project, promoted by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), the National Centre for Genomic Analysis (CNAG), the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO-ISCIII) and the Networked Biomedical Research Centre Consortium (CIBER-ISCIII), entities dependent on the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), and in conjunction with the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) to contribute to the creation of the largest European DNA catalogue to date and which will enable the consolidation of a pioneering biomedical science to prevent diseases.

This is an unprecedented project, which will generate the most comprehensive genetic database of the European population, incorporating 100,000 genomes representing all the continent's citizens.

The Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, stressed that Spain's collaboration in this project "will allow us to create a basis for consolidating a pioneering biomedical science for the prediction, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of multiple pathologies, such as cancer and rare diseases".

The initiative is funded to the tune of €45 million, of which our country has contributed around €3 million, mobilised from the PERTE for Vanguard Health. The database generated will incorporate population-based genetic information from all participating countries, a key requirement to further advance personalised medicine in Europe, as well as to contribute to the early detection, diagnosis and prevention of a large number of diseases of genetic origin.

A total of 27 countries and more than 100 experts from up to 49 European research institutions are participating. It is, like many other European projects, an EU co-financed initiative, with each beneficiary contributing 50% of the total costs. In the Spanish case, the budget amounts to almost €6 million, half of which is provided by the EU.

Knowing DNA, the first step towards making personalised medicine a reality

Knowing the complete genome of citizens is extremely valuable information, as genes and their behaviour hold many of the keys to understanding how human beings develop and cope with pathologies of genetic origin.

Genome of Europe' and the interaction between genomics programmes

Genome of Europe (GoE) is part of the European 1+ Million Genomes (1+MG) initiative, whose main objective is to extend the benefits of genomics to national health systems through the collection of 500,000 reference genomes. In addition, it will help genomic information to be integrated into the European Health Data Space, as it will enable interaction between the different genomics programmes in each European country.

As for the role of the Spanish institutions, the ISCIII will provide the coordination and experience of its participation in the European Research Area; the CIBER-ISCIII will manage the samples of the participants, taken from the general population; the CNIO and the CNAG will be in charge of their sequencing; and the UPV/EHU will be in charge of the project's ethical-legal issues.

50 primary care centres will collect samples from the Spanish population

In Spain, participants in this study will come from the IMPaCT Precision Medicine Infrastructure, a national programme coordinated by the Carlos III Health Institute to facilitate the effective deployment of Precision Medicine in the National Health System. Specifically, the participants will come from the IMPaCT Cohort project, in which the Health Systems of all the autonomous communities participate and which is already an ongoing reality, made possible thanks to ISCIII funding: it already has 40 primary care centres recruiting randomly selected participants between the ages of 16 and 79, and will reach 50 centres throughout Spain.

Sequencing of more than 12,000 complete genomes in Spain

Genome of Europe' aims to create a reference genome from the sequencing data of 100,000 people from the general population, with which the research and clinical community can compare their patients to detect pathogenic risk variants, diagnose genetic diseases and promote prevention. Of this total of 100,000 people across Europe, Spain will contribute the sequencing of 12,000 complete genomes of its population.

After sample collection, CNAG and CNIO will be in charge of sequencing the samples through the application of state-of-the-art genomic technologies. CNAG, as a European reference centre for genomic analysis, will also play a role in coordinating the other European sequencing institutions, closely monitoring the selection and submission of samples to ensure that the genomes obtained are of the highest quality.

In addition, during the course of the project, it will promote the application of new cutting-edge technologies for genome sequencing, which it will extend to the other participating countries in order to continue driving innovation and improving results.

With its involvement in Genome of Europe, Spain and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities consolidate their important role in the European Research Area, and ratify their commitment to the consolidation of precision medicine that continues to enable science to improve people's health.

Non official translation