My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has made the following written statement:
Today I am announcing the launch of a new research collaboration between the Government, UK Biobank and Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The new generation of nanopore-based molecular sensing technology created by this leading UK-headquartered, life science company will be used to conduct detailed genetic sequencing of 50,000 samples in the UK Biobank, the UK’s primary biomedical database.
This represents a significant expansion of Oxford Nanopore’s collaboration with UK Biobank which started with a 5,000-genome pilot. This new collaboration will create the world’s first comprehensive dataset of epigenetic modifications in the human genome and demonstrate the UK’s continued leadership in the field of genetics. Further exploration of epigenetics—the emerging study of how DNA and its expression is affected by modifications that do not change the underlying DNA sequence—could unlock a deeper understanding of the causes of diseases such as cancer and neurological conditions. This could pave the way for new diagnostic and targeted treatments, improving patient care and giving hope to the millions of people who live with conditions like these.
This expansion of the epigenetics programme is an early example of collaboration between Oxford Nanopore and HMG, building on the plans to form a strategic partnership announced on 5 November. I will provide further updates to the House on this collaboration as it develops.
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