By Dr Angela Hamblin, Molecular Diagnostic Research Fellow at the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre The wait is over! The Oxford NHS Genomic Medicine Centre is now the first centre in the country open to recruit patients with cancer into Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project. This follows on from the successful start of enrolment of patients … Read more
News for Genomic Medicine
Recruitment begins on major genetics project
A project to unravel the genetic changes underlying rare disease and cancers of more than 1,200 patients and their families who are looked after by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUHT) has started. The project will aid research, improve diagnosis and ultimately clinical outcomes so NHS patients can receive care based on cutting edge scientific … Read more
New TB test to get sufferers on right drugs sooner
Tuberculosis sufferers will be able get drug treatment sooner thanks to a new whole genome sequencing technique to determine for the first time which drugs to give sufferers, researchers in Oxford have reported. University of Oxford researchers at the John Radcliffe Hospital have developed a genetic test – details of which are published online today … Read more
Project brings Whole Genome Sequencing into the clinic
More than 10 years after the completion of the Human Genome Project doctors are a step closer to using whole genome sequencing to diagnose and treat patients with genetic diseases. This follows a study by researchers from the University of Oxford and the DNA sequencing company Illumina. Results from this ‘WGS500’ study, published in Nature … Read more
Gene sequencing test for cancer patients on the NHS
The first multi-gene DNA sequencing test that can help predict cancer patients’ responses to treatment has been launched in the National Health Service (NHS), thanks to a partnership between scientists at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. The test uses the latest DNA sequencing techniques to detect mutations across 46 genes … Read more
New understanding of craniosynostosis will help families and treatment centres
RESEARCHERS in Oxford have discovered two new genetic causes of craniosynostosis – a rare bone condition that can inhibit brain growth in children. The work will give affected families much greater understanding of the condition and inform patient treatment plans. Andrew Wilkie, Nuffield Professor of Pathology at Oxford University and honorary consultant at Oxford University … Read more
TB’s genetic “family tree” may hold the key to tackling outbreaks quickly and effectively
NEW genetic sequencing techniques can map the “family tree” of a Tuberculosis (TB) outbreak allowing the spread of disease to be tackled quickly and effectively. Researchers, led by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, the Health Protection Agency in Birmingham and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, have pioneered the whole genome sequencing (WGS) … Read more
Gene therapy trial begins for blindness caused by choroideraemia
Professor Robert MacLaren from the University of Oxford and Professor Miguel Seabra from Imperial College London are undertaking a clinical trial using gene therapy to treat a disease that causes blindness known as choroideraemia. This condition is currently incurable and affects thousands of people worldwide. This is the world’s first clinical trial for this disease … Read more
Man treated in Oxford for blindness with gene therapy
Researchers in Oxford have treated a man with an advanced gene therapy technique to prevent him from losing his sight. It is the first time that anyone has tried to correct a genetic defect in the light-sensing cells that line the back of the eye. The president of the Academy of Medical Sciences said the widespread … Read more
Heart disease linked to a few rogue genes
Heart disease is linked to just a few rogue genes as well as lifestyle choices, landmark research into Britain’s biggest killer has found. The 18 genes that raise the risk of cardiac problems, from heart attacks to hardening of the arteries, have been pinpointed in three studies involving hundreds of scientists worldwide. The breakthrough opens … Read more