Go to Sitemap
Genome Canada awards SickKids $11.7 million to advance Precision Child Health
Summary:
The projects will support a national genomic dataset of 100,000 genomes that reflects Canada’s diverse population.
Today, Genome Canada awarded almost $12 million in funding to research projects led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), to build the largest-ever collection of human genomic data in Canada.
The funding is part of the Canadian Precision Health Initiative, which provided a total of $81 million in Government of Canada funding through Genome Canada, to create a coordinated, large-scale, diverse genomic data asset of 100,000 genomes that reflects Canada’s population. The initiative aims to drive genomics-enabled precision health for Canadians.
Of the $81 million awarded, $11,716,046 was given to two transformative projects led by SickKids, in addition to several other projects involving SickKids scientists.
“We will leverage SickKids’ strengths as the most research-intensive paediatric centre in Canada to advance the utility of genomic health data to realize the vision of Precision Child Health, allowing all patients and families to have the opportunity to learn and benefit from research,” says Dr. Stephen Scherer, Chief of Research and Senior Scientist in the Genetics & Genome Biology program.
The genome sequencing for each of these projects will be conducted at The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at SickKids, part of CGEn, Canada's National Platform for Genome Sequencing and Analysis. Matching of Genome Canada funding for the two projects will be facilitated by partnerships between the institutions and several co-funding partners.
Precision Child Health – comprehensive sequencing for childhood life-long disorders (PCHSeq)
At SickKids, many children are diagnosed with genetic conditions that have a lifelong impact. Whole genome sequencing offers the potential to enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis, prediction of health trajectory, and identification of novel therapeutic targets.
Led by Dr. Stephen Scherer, this project will sequence the genomes of participants (and their parents) with a diverse range of childhood-onset conditions. The project will recruit patients and families from a wide range of clinical areas at SickKids, as well as collaborate with scientific leaders to engage participants from existing research cohorts. The team will use cutting-edge technology to ensure data quality as well as build condition-specific artificial intelligence models to analyse the data.
The project will sequence a total of 10,000 genomes over a period of four years, with data made available through the Pan Canadian Genome Library.
Project value: $15,430,370, of which Genome Canada has provided $7,518,328 to SickKids.
Additional SickKids project members: Ronald Cohn, Seema Mital, David Malkin, Linda Hiraki, Yiming Wang, Amanda Ricciuto, Rebekah Jobling, Robert Hamilton, Lisa Strug, Tomasz Czarny, Francine Buchanan, Christian Marshall, Gregory Costain, Jeff MacDonald, Lindsay Smith, Andrew McFadyen, Stacy Hewson, Eriskay Liston, Iris Cohn, Robin Hayeems and Elizabeth Stephenson.
Genomic evidence for precision medicine for selected chronic diseases among Black peoples in Canada
Genomic data are potentially transformative in enhancing the precision and effectiveness of various medical practices. Unfortunately, genomic databases have poor representation of people with African ancestry. This omission reduces the chances of identifying variants that could advance precision medicine for Black communities and prevents scientists from learning from the most diverse genome in existence.
Led by Dr. Upton Allen, Division Head of Infectious Diseases, Interim Head of the Transplant and Regenerative Medicine Centre and Senior Associate Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program, this project will sequence the genomes of 11,100 Black people in Canada to help predict, prevent and manage health conditions. In addition to enhancing genomic diversity in genetic research, the project will focus on genome sequencing of individuals with conditions that are more prevalent among Black peoples, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes and triple-negative breast cancer, to help ensure that progress in precision medicine is inclusive and beneficial to diverse populations.
Project value: $18,274,857, of which Genome Canada has provided $4,197,718 to SickKids.
Additional SickKids project members: Andrew Paterson: in collaboration with TCAG and The Centre for Computational Medicine.
Collaborating with Canadian institutions for the future of child health
In addition to these two SickKids-led projects, SickKids scientists are members of other awarded projects listed below, with genome sequencing being conducted at SickKids through TCAG:
- Precision Health for neurodevelopment, mental health and brain injury, led by Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou at Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, with collaborators at SickKids including Drs. Jennifer Crosbie, Louise Gallagher, Jacob Vorstman, Brett Trost, Ryan Yuen and Stephen Scherer.
- Expanding the use of genomics to unravel rare diseases: Care4Rare EXPAND, led by Dr. Kym Boycott at CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario) with project members at SickKids including Drs. Christian Marshall and Gregory Costain.
- INFANT: Identifying at risk newborns from the analysis of NGS testing, led by Dr. Kristin Kernohan at CHEO with project members at SickKids including Dr. Diane Wherrett.