Roche to invest Euro 4m in Andalusian medical genome project
Roche is to collaborate with the Spanish Department of Health of Junta de Andalucia on the Medical Genome Project (MGP), a study of the genomes of people with rare diseases to identify the gene or genes causing the disease.
Roche is to collaborate with the Spanish Department of Health of Junta de Andalucia on the Medical Genome Project (MGP), a study of the genomes of people with rare diseases to identify the gene or genes causing the disease.
The Swiss drugmaker will contribute Euro 4m to the MGP and will receive the right of first refusal for any possible licence for discoveries made during the project.
The project starts in 2010 and will run until 2013.
In the first phase, the research will focus on defining the whole variability of human genes by working with about 300 DNA samples, each of which can contain up to 26,000 different genes.
The researchers will then compare this variability with genetic alterations observed in rare diseases to identify the causal gene or genes.
In the final phase, the researchers will search for specific therapies for genetic-based diseases.
The research will take place in the Scientific and Technical Complex Cartuja 93 (Seville) and will be led by Professor Shomi Bhattacharya and Dr Guillermo Antinolo, associated director and director of the Andalusian Genetic Plan and Dr Joaquin Dopazo, associated director of Bioinformatics in the Andalusian Programme for Genetic Research and Genomics.