Backgrounder
March 20, 2008
ONTARIO INNOVATION ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL FUNDING
A grant of $870,000 from the Wellcome Trust, the world’s second largest medical research foundation, will help researchers at The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for children’s diseases. The grant will be shared with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).
The funding will expand operations of TCAG’s Database of Genomic Variants (DGV)—known as “the Toronto Database”—the world’s premier source of genomics information. Researchers will collect, organize and curate genome-wide information, enhancing the translation of genetic information into new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools for the improved health of children.
Genomic Research
Genomics is opening up new frontiers to explore and understand what causes some people to be predisposed to disease. This information will lead to better and faster tools to diagnose and treat disease.
In 2004, scientists discovered that in humans, certain defined genomic regions are present in multiple copies in some individuals and not others. These copy number variable (CNV) regions have been shown to influence susceptibility to disease and response to treatments. While some of these variants are benign, others can make us predisposed to disease or even cause disease.
Advances in CNV detection will help scientists pinpoint the problem regions and develop preventative or therapeutic treatments. Disease prevention, faster detection and more accurate treatment means more lives are saved. That's the goal of this research.
See also:
- News Release: Work On Childhood Diseases Wins Award
- Photo Gallery
