The Yorkshire and Humber NHS Genomic Medicine Centre (YHGMC) is one of 13 genomic medicine centres (GMCs) and serves 5.3 million people from across the Yorkshire and Humber region.
The Yorkshire and Humber NHS Genomic Medicine Centre works with specialists in the hospitals and active patient groups, to identify patients who could benefit from a genome test.
A genome test is useful where a disorder runs through a family or if there is a strong likelihood of a change in a gene being a major risk factor for the development of a condition. Sometimes the gene sequence is useful to classify conditions into different subtypes that need different treatment, as is the case in cancer.
Once the project has been introduced to the patient by their healthcare professional, our team will approach the patient and explain the project in detail. It involves consent, sample taking and medical data input. Results will be fed back to the patients’ clinicians like any other NHS test.
By doing this we are contributing to the national project and everyone who takes part helps us to build up a picture of the way genomes differ between us all. As a result we will start to understand what all the variations mean in terms of health and disease.
“Genomics is key to the future of medicine and the formation of the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Genomic Medicine Centre will be a catalyst for the transformation of care.”
Andrew Jack, Clinical Director for Genomics in Yorkshire and the Humber
The Yorkshire and Humber NHS Genomic Medicine Centre is a joint collaboration between Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust working closely with all 22 NHS health trusts in the region supported by the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network.
Our aim in the Yorkshire and Humber is to collect samples from 4,700 participants with rare diseases plus their families, and patients with certain types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, ovarian and sarcoma by December 2017.