The Human Technopole in Milan, ELIXIR Italia, the national node of the European research infrastructure for life sciences coordinated by the National Research Council, and the Monzino IRCCS Cardiology Center, as the Italian coordinating center, have been chosen as Italian partners of Genome of Europe. Genome of Europe is the biggest genomic project that the EU has ever funded, with the ultimate goal of enabling prevention and personalized care for all European citizens. GoE intends to build a database of genomes from 27 EU countries, starting with 100,000 genomes and expanding to 500,000 genomes in a second phase. GoE will create a single European reference genome as well as a series of "national" genomes to serve as the foundation for clinical and laboratory research into new medications, focused therapies, preventative techniques, and improved diagnosis. A gigantic undertaking with an initial budget of 45 million euros and 100 researchers from 49 institutions across 27 countries. In Italy, the three partners plan to collect and sequence around 15,800 genomes using DNA samples from existing national biobanks, and then incorporate this data into the pan-European genomic reference. The initiative is a revolution in precision medicine, particularly for rare diseases and predictive genomics, which will assist in the identification of disease risks and drug response. The project will also contribute to the integration of genomics within the European Health Data Space, improving disease prevention and diagnosis while optimizing healthcare resources.
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