Skip to main content
Uncategorized

The UB Science Park will be home to the National Genome Analysis Centre

By 18 de January de 2010November 18th, 2020No Comments
< Back to news
 18.01.2010

The UB Science Park will be home to the National Genome Analysis Centre

In a meeting held today at the Palau de la Generalitat, José Montilla, President of the Generalitat, Cristina Garmendia, the Minister for Science and Innovation, Marina Geli, the Catalan Minister for Health and Social Security, Josep Huguet, of the Catalan Department of Innovation, Universities and Business, and Dídac Ramírez, President of the Barcelona Science Park Foundation and Rector of the University of Barcelona (UB), signed a cooperation agreement governing the creation of the National Genome Analysis Centre (CNAG), a new high-performance genome sequencing centre to be opened in the Barcelona Science Park and which is aimed at consolidating Spain's status as a leading player in the strategic area of genomics research.


The CNAG is designed to extend the Spanish network of Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (Infraestructura Cientificotècnica Singular, ICTS), in line with the strategic objectives of the Ingenio 2010 national research and development plan, the National Science and Technology Strategy (Estrategia Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, ENCYT) and the National R&D&I Plan for the period 2008-2011.

The National Genome Analysis Centre will conduct a pilot project based on the sequence analysis of tumour samples, as part of Spain’s involvement in the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), which will oversee the project and confirm the validity of the results presented. The ICGC aims to obtain an exhaustive description of the genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic alterations and anomalies present in 50 types and subtypes of different tumours, as a means of enhancing research in this field and improving the detection and treatment of the tumours in question. The CNAG project will also draw on the support of researchers from eight other countries, each with a particularly strong presence in human genomics research: the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, India, France and the United Kingdom.

Under the cooperation agreement, the National Genome Analysis Centre will receive funding of €30 million from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the same amount from the Generalitat, through the Department of Health and the Department of Innovation, Universities and Business. The funds provided by the Ministry of Science and Innovation form part of an extraordinary public spending plan (PlanE) under which a total of €490 million will be channeled into R&D&I in three key sectors of society – health, energy and international excellence.

The funds provided, included in the Ministry of Science and Innovation’s expenditure budget for 2009, are to be managed by the Barcelona Science Park Foundation (FPCB), which will be responsible for carrying out the first phase of the project, encompassing the creation of the basic insfrastructures, the provision of equipment and the recruitment of personnel.

For this initial stage, the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Generalitat have called on the support of other public bodies working in the field of genome sequencing, most importantly the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic, which have had a part in all major decisions taken since the project’s inception and worked together to select the Centre’s new director, the researcher Ivo Gut, one of Europe’s leading experts in genomics.