COVID-19 GenOMICC-GENOMICS ENGLAND PARTNERSHIP

Thousands of patients severely ill with coronavirus will have their genetic code studied to help scientists understand whether a person’s genetics may influence their susceptibility to the virus.
A major new human whole genome sequencing study will take place across the NHS, involving up to 20,000 people currently or previously in an intensive care unit with coronavirus, as well as 15,000 individuals who have mild or moderate symptoms. Genomics England, is partnering with the GenOMICC consortium, Illumina and the NHS to launch the research drive, which will reach patients in 170 intensive care units throughout the UK.
The project is backed by Genomics England, UK Research and Innovation, the Department of Health and Social Care and the National Institute for Health Research. Illumina will sequence all 35,000 genomes and share some of the cost via an in-kind contribution.
The study, facilitated by the University of Edinburgh and multiple NHS hospitals, will explore the varied effects coronavirus has on patients, supporting the search for treatments by identifying those most at risk and helping to fast-track new therapies into clinical trials.

GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) is a global collaborative study to understand the genetic basis of critical illness. For the GenOMICC-Covid-19 programme there are several key inter-related studies currently being undertaken:

Genomics England/GenOMICC (GeL/GenOMICC), led by Kenneth Baillie, Edinburgh

1. Overall investment is provided by DH, NIHR Bioresource (in kind), UKRI (MRC) and LifeArc.

Objectives: Using whole genome sequencing (WGS), to investigate genetic links to patients severely affected by Covid-19 in:
a. 20,000 severely affected individuals: (requiring admission to intensive care) compared with 15,000 mildly affected unaffected individuals.
b. Up to 1000 trios (mother/father/affected individual): severely affected younger (under 40) individual with no other underlying health conditions to look for rare variants.

2. UKRI’s funding contribution (up to £1.5m) is targeted towards 1b, in partnership with NIHR BioResource (recruiting and phenotyping, in kind contribution of £1m). Additionally, UKRI’s funding is supporting progress towards the GeL target of WGS of 4000 under 50-year olds.

3. Short-term deliverables are identification of genetic variants associated with severe symptoms (e.g. recent publication Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in Covid-19). Risks include delays due to recruitment (e.g. depending on timing of a ‘second wave’), and delivery, to be addressed through mile-stoning of outputs by the funders.