Canada takes lead in population genomics with $34.5-million investment in CARTaGENE

Canada is taking the lead in the Public Population Project in Genomics (P3G) with a $34.5-million investment in the Quebec-based CARTaGENE project. Canada now leads in three international genomics consortia, including the International Regulome Consortium and the Structural Genomics Consortium and is a significant player in several others.

By linking into P3G, CARTaGENE researchers will be able to tap into funding from the 7th European Framework Program, which has a program specifically devoted to biobanks. It is intended to develop and manage a multidisciplinary infrastructure for comparing and merging results from population genomics studies that feed into health care strategies aimed at disease prevention and tailored medicines. Other countries with major participation in P3G include the UK, US, France, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Taiwan, Australia and Finland. Total funding, including CARTaGENE, is $64.5 million.

"The CARTaGENE concept is several years old but there were problems working through issues such as consent forms, ethics and privacy," says Dr Martin Godbout, Genome Canada's president and CEO. "CARTaGENE is one of 26 biobanks around the world spread over five continents and these make up P3G. Canada is dominant in P3G. For Genome Canada to participate in international initiatives, there has to be at least $50 million in investment and we can make up to 25% of the total amount. It also has to be led by Canadians."

P3G was conceived and developed in 2003 by Drs Bartha Maria Knoppers (Univ of Montreal) and Dr Tom Hudson (Univ of Toronto, formerly with McGill Univ). CARTaGENE is led by Knoppers — a leading expert on the ethical aspects of genetics, genomics and biotechnology — and Dr Claude Laberge, a population genomics expert at the Univ of Laval.

CARTaGENE has several objectives:

* Help researchers understand the determinants of health and disease by examining genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors involved in common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer;

* Contribute to the international harmonization of research tools and methods and governance approaches for population genomics studies.  With increased statistical power and reliability of population genomics studies, research will be translated more quickly into health benefits;

* A governance framework addressing ethical and social questions, to ensure the protection of study participants;

* Establish Quebec and Canada as leaders in population genomics and public health, which has emerged from the sequencing of the human genome.

The project involves a DNA extraction, storage and management platform, a clinical platform for large-scale human genomics studies, a data centre and a data management platform. The Institute for Population and Genetics will control and manage CARTaGENE in the public interest.

Samples will be collected randomly from 60,000 people between the ages of 24 and 74 over a period of four years to find genes predisposed to common and complex diseases or phenotypes of interest to expand the development of predictive and diagnostic technologies.

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