WISH

In her welcoming address to last week’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser announced the ending of the pilot phase of the Qatar Genome Programme (QGP), with 3,000 complete genomes sequenced.

The goal is to create a healthcare system that is designed around individuals, using advanced data to provide better, more personalised treatment for patients in Qatar.

In an insightful address to the opening of the conference, Her Highness highlighted the significant value the genome programme will add to Qatar’s healthcare sector in the long-run in terms of easing the diagnosis of various diseases and their treatment through customized medicine.

QGP uses a collection of samples and data from Qatar Biobank participants to identify genotype-phenotype associations relevant to the Qatari population, enabling researchers to make advances toward the development of personalised healthcare in Qatar. So far, more than 5,000 Qataris and long-term residents have contributed to Qatar Biobank.

“Her Highness’s announcement of the completion of the pilot phase is a major step forward for the Qatar Genome Programme, as it demonstrates that we have sequenced enough genomes to already have made significant contributions towards healthcare research in Qatar,” said Prof. Asmaa Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson of Qatar Biobank and Chairperson of Qatar Genome Programme.