Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra) and WuXi NextCODE, a precision medicine company using the genome to improve health worldwide, announced yesterday a broad, long-term agreement to provide and co-develop comprehensive research and bioinformatics programmes.
The partnership will enable Sidra to leverage its world-class clinical, research and bioinformatics teams to deliver cutting-edge genomic medicine - for its own patients as well as enhance its expertise to develop national, regional and global genomics research initiatives.  
The implementation will also allow Sidra to develop customised applications to support the genetic research needs of several health and research programmes underway in Qatar, such as the Qatar Genome Project launched by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser in 2013.
“Understanding the genome is the key to building a roadmap for better health outcomes. We are really excited to be a part of a ground-breaking national project like the Qatar Genome Project as well as other research programmes that will empower us and our partners to improve the health of the people in Qatar. Our work on the QGP has the potential to develop applications that will take our research and expertise beyond Qatar’s borders,” said Dr Francesco Marincola, Sidra’s Chief Research Officer.
“The partnership with WuXi NextCODE brings us key capabilities: a fully integrated and truly scalable bioinformatics system for ramping up our sequencing effort, build a global standard database and tools using population genomic and medical data to benefit research and clinical care,” he said.
WuXi NextCODE’s technology was originally developed to conduct population research in Iceland - which is similar to the Qatar Genome Project in terms of sample size and participation. This system and its unique genomic database model - which manages and mines more sequences than any other system in the world - will streamline the flow of samples in and data out of Sidra’s high-throughput sequencing centre.
In addition to supporting the QGP, the implementation will facilitate clinical diagnostics and accelerate research priorities for the Genome Arabia Project, the genetics of type 2 diabetes as well as other research projects underway at Sidra.
In partnership with Qatar Biobank, another key institution in the QGP, Sidra is currently aiming to complete the pilot phase by May 2016. A whole-genome pilot of the Qatari population with a sample size of 3,000, using the Wuxi NextCODE system is already underway.  
“Qatar is a small nation thinking big, committed to playing a leading role in making sequence data a standard part of healthcare,” said Hannes Smarason, co-founder, president and COO of WuXi NextCODE.
“Given our roots at Iceland and work with Genomics England and other large-scale projects, this collaboration is a natural fit for us. We are excited to be a part of it and to advance the practice of precision medicine with the stellar multinational team that Sidra has assembled.”