New Phenome Centre Will Help Doctors Detect Disease Faster

SINGAPORE - June 12, 2013 - PRLog -- Singapore, A first-of-its-kind research centre has opened in the UK that will help scientists and doctors better understand how the interaction between a person's genes and the environment affects the body such that the person becomes more susceptible to various diseases.

The MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, which opened on June 5 2013, is a collaboration between Imperial College London, King's College London and analytical technology companies Waters Corporation and Bruker Biospin. It is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Based at Imperial, the centre's director is Professor Jeremy Nicholson, who also heads Imperial's Department of Surgery and Cancer.

This new research facility will analyse phenomes, or the results of interactions between genes and the environment, by examining about 100,000 blood and urine samples every year. Such analyses will help doctors determine what exactly causes some people to have certain diseases, and suggest ways to tailor treatments for individual patients.

The centre's longer term goals include international collaborations and research projects.  Professor Nicholson was recently in Singapore between 10 to 12 June, to share with academics, government and healthcare practitioners the vision of the MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre.

Ongoing genomics research is helping scientists to understand why some people develop diseases, but most common diseases are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, such as diet and lifestyle. Studying the phenome will help determine how the environment and genes combine to affect biochemical processes that lead to disease.

Professor Nicholson said: "The sequencing of the human genome generated a lot of excitement among scientists and the public, but studying our genes has revealed less than we had hoped about common diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. By studying the phenome we can examine the effects of our genes, our lifestyle and our environment. What we discover about the causes of disease can be used to inform healthcare."

The centre uses millions of pounds worth of nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry technology to give the most accurate readings to date of the exact chemical make-up of people’s blood and urine. The equipment measures the chemicals, such as fats, sugars, vitamins and hormones, produced by our bodies as well as those that come from our food, drink and medicines, and the air we breathe. It can even detect the different types of bacteria naturally occurring in the gut, which can influence our health.

"This technology is already in use in medical research but only on a small-scale. With the creation of this new facility, it will now be possible to get a complete and accurate biological read-out of thousands of individuals," said Professor Frank Kelly, Co-Investigator at the Centre and Director of Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division at King’s College London.

"The ability to study the phenome on an industrial scale means we can pick apart the complex circumstances, genetic and environmental, that cause conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease."

Professor Nicholson added: "It will also allow us to see how individual patients respond to different treatments over time. For example, we could quickly discern whether a cancer patient is responding to chemotherapy and if not, switch to a different treatment, without wasting valuable time. And the data we gather will mean that, ultimately, we will be able to predict which treatments will work for which patients, based on their phenome."

The centre has secured funding of £10 million from the MRC and NIHR for its first five years.

In that period, the centre will also test the thousands of samples already stored by researchers working at the NIHR’s Biomedical Research Centres and Units.  The Centres and Units are collaborations between leading NHS hospitals and universities that focus on ensuring that patients benefit from the most promising medical research.

Thanks to donations of additional equipment from Waters and Bruker, the centre will also include a state-of-the-art international training facility. This will enable students, scientists and doctors from around the world to gain hands-on experience in using analytical technology to study human phenomes.

Art Caputo, President of the Waters Division at Waters Corporation, said: "Waters is proud to be part of this first-of-a-kind research centre and the opportunity to work with such distinguished partners. Our mission at Waters is to advance science to constantly push the boundaries of what’s possible. We fully expect this centre will do just that, multiplying our understanding of disease, setting the standard for this field of research and continually helping us to improve the health of populations around the world. There are no limits to the breakthroughs in health we might see as a result of work here at the NIHR-MRC Phenome Centre and hopefully in the near future in affiliated centres across the world, too."