THE Newcastle Hospitals’ Northern Genetics Service has been confirmed as one of eleven national specialist centres to lead the way in conquering rare diseases.

The three-year 100,000 Genome Project, launched by the Prime Minister earlier this year, will transform diagnosis and treatment for patients with cancer and rare diseases.

The North-East and North Cumbria NHS Genome Medicine Centre (GMC) will be led by the Northern Genetic Service, based at the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle.

The initiative involves collecting and decoding100,000 human genomes from NHS patients across England.

Being able to understand the complete set of a person’s genes will enable doctors and scientists to understand more about specific conditions, particularly rare diseases and cancer.

Dr Paul Brennan, clinical director for the Northern Genetics Service said: “This is an extremely exciting time for health care. When I became a consultant 12 years ago I wouldn’t have even dreamed that routine whole genome sequencing would be possible within my career.

“The most high profile recent example has been the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes; women with particular changes in these genes have a higher chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer and can benefit from more intensive screening strategies or risk-reducing surgery.

“In addition, women with a mutation in one of these genes who have cancer may now be eligible to receive new targeted medical treatments, developed in Newcastle.

“We have also recently launched a region-wide service for families affected by Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) – a relatively common and treatable condition which causes high levels of cholesterol in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease in those who do not receive treatment."

Recruitment to the project will begin in February 2015 and continue until the end of 2017.