Collaboration with SciLifeLab
One important foundation for improved precision medicine is the development of new techniques for broad gene analysis and result interpretation. Genomic Medicine Sweden works in close collaboration with Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) regarding technological development.
Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) originated in the Clinical Genomics platform at SciLifeLab. The role of the platform is to develop, adapt and validate advanced molecular analyses for clinical and translational research, clinical studies and for diagnostics in health care.
These complementary operations within SciLifeLab and GMS entail that instruments and technical skills within the Clinical Genomics nodes, together with GMS’s national diagnosis groups, are able to develop and validate new methods and tools for analysis that can be scaled up and used in routine healthcare and enable research in precision medicine. The Clinical Genomics platform forms a central technical base for the diagnostic tests implemented within GMS, and is essential for introducing broad gene analysis in healthcare.
Since 2019, a Clinical Genomics node has been established at all seven universities with a medical faculty within GMS. The work within Clinical Genomics is carried out in close collaboration with the university hospitals and the GMS regional centres for genomic medicine.
In addition to collaboration with the Clinical Genomics platform, GMS also collaborates with other parts of the SciLifeLab research infrastructure, such as the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) and the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure (NBIS).
SciLifeLab also funds national collaborative research projects within GMS. One is within the scope of the Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness program, where the Clinical Genomics platform and GMS run a project that aims to coordinate different aspects of genomics-based pandemic preparedness. Another is the national collaboration, within SciLifeLab’s Research Community Programs, which aims to explore and identify pilot projects within the area of complex diseases that can in the long run be implemented in healthcare within the scope of GMS. This laid the foundation for the working group Complex diseases within GMS.