Introduction

The Whole Genome Screening project  –  The London Genetics Centre Study.

It is the first of its type to be based in a General Practice in the UK, as part of a Medical combined with an Echocardiogram and Ultrasound screening. It is a joint venture with The Royal Marsden, The Institute of Cancer Research, being led by Professor Ros Eeles and Dr Michael Sandberg, together with the Royal Brompton Hospital. We have an international steering committee, composed of experts in different aspects of genetics, screening and ethics for a small initial pilot project which we anticipate will then progress into a much larger Audit Study.

Screening healthy people with no significant medical family history and with Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) is a new concept in preventative and personalised medicine.

Until now, only patients with a strong family or personal history of disease have seen. With technological advances and greater understanding of genes we are now for the first time able to open up genetics to a wider audience.

 

DNA double helix and sequencing output. Credit: Peter Artymiuk. CC BY

(Click to enlarge)