China to create a gigantic DNA database

Almaty. November 1. Silkroadnews - China will create a gigantic DNA database, China Daily wrote.
“A super-sized DNA sequencing platform will be built in Nanjing, capital of East China’s Jiangsu province, in order to create a genetic information database for ethnic Chinese,” the report said.
The project is said to be a part of the work of the National Health & Medicine Big Data Center, under construction in Jiangbei new area and is estimated at 6 billion yuan, said Lan Qing, deputy director of the provincial health and family planning commission.
According to him, at the first stage, the center will store medical information on about 80 million people, which is equivalent of the population of Jiangsu Province.
“When the facilities are ready, the designed capacity for DNA sequencing will be up to 400,000 to 500,000 samples per year,” the agency quotes Lan saying.
The project will be jointly implemented by the state-owned Yangzi Group company, Southeast University and Nanjing Medical University.
In the future, researchers will use big data created in the database to study genetic mutations related to major diseases, look for the impact of interaction between genes and environmental problems and their impact on human health, and provide statistical support for diagnosis and treatment of major diseases.
Cai Long, board director of Yangzi Group, said that the program will focus on the genetics of the population, newborns, childhood brain and cognitive development, cancer and rare and chronic diseases.
According to him, the database will be completed in about four years.