Skip to Content
Biotechnology and health

The US has picked the DNA centers that will sequence 1 million genomes

September 26, 2018

A US precision medicine initiative is giving out $28.6 million to three gene sequencing centers to begin decoding the genomes of 1 million American volunteers. 

So, what’s it for? The AllofUs study is “one of the country’s most ambitious biomedical research efforts ever undertaken,” according to the National Institutes of Health, which is running the project. It will track the health, diet, and environment of a million people of all races who have handed over their genetic data to the project. So far, more than 110,000 have signed up.

Who: Decoding the DNA of the American volunteers was a coveted job. The winners, announced today, are the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Washington in Seattle.

Only one company, Color Genomics of Burlingame, California, was selected. It will join the Cambridge team and will help provide DNA interpretation and reports—something it does as part of its day-to-day gene testing business.

The sequencing centers picked weren’t exactly outside-the box choices. Some of the same centers led the American part of the Human Genome Project 20 years ago.

Playing catch up: The US gene database will be big … but late to the party. A similar resource in the United Kingdom, the UK Biobank, got under way a decade ago and has been wowing researchers with data on 500,000 mostly middle-aged Britons.

Deep Dive

Biotechnology and health

Scientists are finding signals of long covid in blood. They could lead to new treatments.

Faults in a certain part of the immune system might be at the root of some long covid cases, new research suggests.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

The next generation of mRNA vaccines is on its way

Adding a photocopier gene to mRNA vaccines could make them last longer and curb side effects.

Ready, set, grow: These are the biotech plants you can buy now

For $73, I bought genetically modified tomato seeds and a glowing petunia.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.