Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB), Bangalore, India has an established collaboration with MCGM to develop and integrate computational analyses of large genomic datasets for the study of human disease. The collaboration is funded through the Department for Science & Technology – UK India Education Research Initiative (DST-UKIERI) and has involved the exchange of students between MCGM and IBAB, and the visit of principal investigators across sites. Analyses developed and undertaken during these collaborations have assisted the development of diagnostic and research projects at the MCGM, leading to several published research papers and improvements to diagnostic services at the MCGM. Future activities aim to develop a long-term and sustainable partnership between MCGM and IBAB, with a focus on solving complexities with the analysis of big genomic datasets.
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Manchester, agreeing to support research projects in genomics, cardiovascular, stem cells and cancer. This builds on a previous successful long-standing collaboration with Professor Stavit Shalev at Technion.
This collaboration will involve students and researchers travelling between the two Centres to share ideas and learn new techniques and from that it is envisaged that joint grant applications will be made to expand the collaboration. Already this has resulted in funding by British Heart Foundation for a project with Professor Lior Gepstein using stem cells to understand why some young people die suddenly from inherited heart rhythm disorders.
Peking University Health Science Center (PUHSC), Beijing, China has formalised an alliance with us at the MAHSC level to establish a joint international Centre of Excellence in Genomic Medicine. Peking University is one of the leading Universities in China and PUHSC is essentially its medical school. Although clinical genetics is not well developed in China, and was only formally approved as a medical specialty in 2016, colleagues at PUHSC are amongst the leaders in their country in the field. The Manchester-PUHSC collaboration aims to provide opportunities to establish mutually beneficial genomic research and healthcare, and benefit patients in both countries.
The collaboration involves provision of advanced training in genomic medicine, including a new University of Manchester Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Genomics (International) which is jointly delivered with PUHSC. We are pump priming joint research projects on rare genetic diseases, with the aim of producing pilot data in order to attract external funding.
Enquiries about the collaboration can be directed to:
Profg. Tao Wang, Manchester
Email: tao.wang@manchester.ac.uk
Ms Xiaojia Li, PUHSC
Email: lixiaojia@bjmu.edu.cn
Through our participation in the European Reference Networks for rare congenital malformations and intellectual disability (ERN-ITHACA), rare ophthalmological disorders (ERN-EYE) and rare tumour predisposing syndromes ( GENTURIS) we participate in a number of EU-funded research collaborations. A new study due to start in autumn 2017 under the Horizon 2020 programme is RD-SOLVE, a research programme aimed at using a number of novel techniques to identify the cause of rare diseases in patients where all avaialable tests so far, including exome sequencing have failed to do so. Patients can be recruited to this study through MCGM ( contact Jill Clayton-Smith).
