The United Kingdom is set to receive a cash injection of £300 million, or about $504 million, that is intended to augment their 100,000 Genomes Project where their National Health Services are gearing up to map out 100,000 human genomes by year 2017. This project will put the country at the helm of scientific discovery that is aiming to reveal the power of the human DNA in bringing about better testing options, drug products, and individualized health care for patients. The UK National Health Service has released a statement earlier saying that the genome project is going to put the country's science sector at the "forefront of global advances in modern medicine."
The 100,000 Human Genome Project is expected to begin a revolution in the way that genomic medicine is being used today, especially in this country where it is fast becoming a routine procedure. The NHS is looking at about 40,000 people who are suffering from genetic disorders that could benefit directly from the project since it hopes to gain a better and in-depth understanding of conditions such as cancer and other rare diseases that have long baffled the medical community. The NHS is also hopeful that studying genetic data from thousands of subjects will pave the way to new discoveries in this regard. They have partnered up with California-based private company Ilumina who will be the official providers of the state of the art technology to be used for the DNA sequencing, and Genomics England, which is a company founded by the UK Department of Health for this purpose.
To achieve data collection at such a massive scale, tens of thousands of willing patients will be asked to take part. All of the studies conducted will be held in absolute confidence, and the information kept securely at the Genomics England database. There are already pilot projects that have been deployed in Cambridge, London, and Newcastle where a few hundred patients have already had their data collected.