Genome Canada bets big on genetics and precision health research

Genome Canada is putting big money behind genetics research – up to $255 million, its largest investment to date in the agency’s 18-year history. Up to $165 million is going to 15 projects in applied research in precision health under Genome Canada’s large-scale applied research program (LSARP). Another $93 million is going to support 10 technology platforms to support focus areas in genomics research, such as agriculture, fisheries, natural resources and environment, and, of course, health.

The total funding is sourced from Genome Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and other partners – provinces, industry and foundations -- as the projects require co-funding at 1:1 leverage.

“The connection between research and health services is very direct here (in these research projects) -- more direct than it has ever been,” says Marc LePage, Genome Canada’s president and CEO. The researchers are also physicians, LePage notes, and are using their research to help patients. “(They are) turning around and applying (the research) within the patient groups that they serve. You can see how they’re treating patients because most of these people (researchers) are physicians.”

At the announcement of the competition results at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, science minister Kirsty Duncan noted that the funds will go to projects where they can help Canadians the most – in clinics for treating patients with chronic disease such as asthma, arthritis and cancer.

“This funding also supports a targeted initiative to address health initiatives specific to Indigenous populations, improving diagnostic outcomes for Indigenous children and reducing inequity in healthcare access,” Duncan added.

Precision health is transforming healthcare, and doctors will soon be able to deliver tailored treatments to patients based on their unique genetic makeup, says Genome Canada in a statement.

LePage says health is the biggest research portfolio of Genome Canada.

This is the second time that Genome Canada is funding large-scale research projects around precision health. In 2012, the competition funded 17 projects with $149 million for the same duration -  four years. LePage says genomics and health research have matured internationally and in Canada since then, and the projects are much bigger in scope with more researchers involved.

“In 2012, we really started pushing people (researchers) to have … a pretty short-term path to clinical impact, which is always a big challenge. On this (2017) cycle, we pushed them even more, and I’m really pleased (with the results),” says LePage.

He adds that genomics research projects are usually large scale because of the volumes of data sets involved, and researchers have to be working at scale to have any impact.

On average, this year’s funded projects are bigger compared to the 2012 competition. The smallest project is $4.2 million while the biggest is $15 million (see competition results below). Competition guidelines state that projects of less than $2 million won’t make the cut. LePage says the size and scope of these projects are comparable to projects in the US, UK and Germany. He adds that recently funded precision health projects maintained the leverage of 1:1 as some projects got the support of big firms, such as pharmaceuticals and those in biotech.

Technology platforms

Funding for the 10 technology platforms in last year’s competition falls under Genome Canada’s program on leading-edge technologies. Some $45 million in federal funding is coursed through Genome Canada and an additional $48 million came from other sources, including CFI, which is funding the infrastructure and equipment, says LePage.

Duncan said the platforms will provide researchers across Canada access to leading edge technologies “so that they may further their discoveries in the health, agriculture, natural resources, fisheries sectors, to name a few.”

LePage says these platforms are the infrastructure that support genomics research. Genome Canada is supporting 10 centres that are accessible and used by thousands of researchers. One of the centres is the Centre for Applied Genomics in SickKids where DNA sequencing/synthesis is done and where the announcement was made.

LePage adds that Genome Canada also provides services to the broader scientific community through the technology platforms in centres across the country. Instead of having equipment and technologies available to individual project researchers, the technology platforms are maintained in select technology centres for greater efficiency.

Funding was available for up to three years but with a requirement for co-funding.

Ginette Petitpas Taylor, minister of health, said in a statement that “the platforms, tools, technologies and services that will be developed through this funding will improve our understanding of many illnesses, particularly those that affect the most vulnerable patients, including children and Indigenous peoples.”

As government continues to support large-scale projects in genomics, LePage expresses optimism that bigger projects, similar to the multi-million-dollar DNA sequencing of the Obama administration, can also be funded.

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