The European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) opens a branch in Barcelona

The genome is the genetic map that codes for every cell in our bodies. In principle each cell in a person has the same code, but there is extra information that tells the cell to become for example a nerve cell or a skin cell.  There is also information that describes why each person is different and records of the changes that have taken place due to the effects of where they live, diet, exposure to pollutants and general health. 

As the technology and know-how advances, more and more information can be extracted from the genomes that have already been analyzed.   Every year we can decipher more of the code and find out more about why individuals are the way they are.   Biomedical scientists use it to discover why some people are more susceptible to certain diseases and why some have a poorer hand of cards regarding their health.   They also study the relationship between this hand of cards and life-style factors such as diet or smoking and why some never develop illnesses while others do.

The GCAT project will use blood samples from participants to analyze their genomes.   Scientists will look at the information coded in the genome and the information about lifestyle in the questionnaires to see how they are connected. I In the future we will be able to predict which people have higher risks of illness, help to help prevent it developing and also to use more effective treatments that are more suitable for each individual.

All this requires the correct storage and management of a lot of data.

At the moment the EGA has data for about 10,000 people, when it is compressed, this occupies 1,000,000 GB and it is growing every day.  In the last 12 months the EGA has seen a 50% increase in the number of studies and 70% increase in the number of files.   They predict that in the next 12 months there will be three times the current number of files, some of these from GCAT.

One of the EGA's roles is to ensure that this information is stored safely and securely and that it can be accessed and used quickly and can be used to extract the maximum useful information.   Arcadi Navarro, researcher at the CRG responsible for the project says "Only this way can Europe maintain its leadership in biomedical research."

The EGA in Barcelona is an initiative of the European Institute of Bioinformatics of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EBI-EMBL) with the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC).  The project is funded by the la Caixa Foundation, the Generalitat and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.