Illumina is joining forces with the Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics at the University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany on whole-genome sequencing (WGS). The two will evaluate WGS as a first-line diagnostic test for patients with genetic diseases and familial cancer syndromes.
The collaboration is taking place under the auspices of the Ge-Med Project, which stems from a two-year feasibility study that found WGS provided improved diagnosis across a range of rare diseases. Illumina will support the Ge-Med Project with sequencing, analysis, and health economic expertise.
The new study will also determine the ability of WGS to generate scores for the risks of common diseases based on genomic data, known as a polygenic risk score.