Britain has now become the first country to embark on a pioneering DNA project that aims to revolutionized cancer treatment as well as medical care for other rare diseases. Their concept entitled The 100,000 Genomes Project is working towards studying the genetic code of thousands of people in a quest to find the genes that are responsible for instigating certain diseases. There have already been DNA donations from a few hundred patients and these will be used for pilot project across London, Newcastle, and Cambridge. Scientists are now looking forward to sequencing the targeted 100,000 genomes over the next four years.
A genome is the set of "instructions" that are contained within each cell of the human body, dictating how that individual's body is put together. From the blood or tissue samples collected from the patient, scientists will be able to conduct genome sequencing, which is a recording of each unique genetic code that can help identify certain genes that could potentially be responsible for rare human diseases or cell mutations like those that have been found to occur in cancer cells.
This project was a concept that was developed by a government owned company, known as Genomics England, with the objective of improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases. Genome sequencing will not only single out cell anomalies, but it will also be useful in identifying target groups that researchers can use for dedicated trials of new treatments. In this way, they can determine which new drugs will have the most significant effect on individual patients. This project is expected to be a very crucial tool in revolutionizing the field of medicine soon the transformation of the processes of diagnosis and treatment so that it becomes capable of developing highly personalized treatments in the future based on genetics.
