Over 500 researchers granted access to the Genomics England Research Environment
• Over 500 researchers have been granted access to the Genomics England Research Environment, enabling them to carry out pioneering research on the 100,000 Genomes Project dataset.
• Genomics England has also adopted the bioinformatics platform Galaxy, providing initial access to students on the MSc in Genomic Medicine course with thousands of genomic analysis tools.
The Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership (GeCIP) is an international consortium of researchers, clinicians and trainees, established to improve understanding and practice of clinical genomics, and uncover new medical insights for patients. Over 2,700 people have come together into 42 research groups, known as ‘domains’. These GeCIP domains are either disease-focused or cross-cutting.
In June 2017 we gave access to our Research Environment, which contains de-identified data from the 100,000 Genomes Project, to a small group of GeCIP members. These members were provided with a subset of data and tasked with testing the environment’s usability and its analysis tools.
Today, we’re excited to announce that over 500 GeCIP researchers, from UK and international institutions, have been granted access to the Genomics England Research Environment. The researchers are part of these 11 GeCIP domains:
| Cancer | Rare Disease | Cross-cutting |
| Colorectal cancer | Neurology | Quantitative methods, machine learning and functional genomics |
| Breast cancer | Endocrine and metabolism | |
| Lung cancer | Hearing and sight | |
| Ovarian cancer | Inherited cancer predisposition | |
| Prostate cancer | Renal |
These researchers will be able to work on the data in line with the codes of conduct set out in the GeCIP Rules, Publication Policy, publication moratorium, and their approved research proposals. Over the next few months, more GeCIP domains will be granted access to the Research Environment.
One of the new tools we’ve embedded within the Research Environment is the well-known bioinformatics platform, Galaxy. The open-source platform contains over 5,000 tools that enable researchers to run multiple analyses on genomic data (called ‘workflows’) and visualise their results.
Galaxy is currently available to students on the MSc in Genomic Medicine course.
The 100,000 Genomes Project now has the largest number of whole genomes with associated clinical data anywhere in the world. With the first set of GeCIP researchers being granted access to this de-identified data, we’re enabling the translation genomic research into direct patient care for years to come.
Professor Mark Caulfield
Chief Scientist at Genomics England
