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Dubai Genomics is a human genome initiative aiming to sequence the DNA of the entire population of Dubai, 3 million people. Part of the Dubai 10x project the initiative was launched by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) in March 2018.
The initiative plans to combine the genomic database with novel artificial intelligence capable of analyzing the data and potentially predicting diseases before they occur. The announcement of the initiative stated
Instead of studying an affected patient’s genetics, our AI goes through database, finds out who has been affected, and looks for non-patients with similar genetic profiles and are therefore at risk,
Dubai Genomics hopes to:
- Eradicate/contain diseases arising from genetic origins
- Counsel at-risk individuals to help pre-empt or mitigate disease
- Facilitate personalized medicine.
- Create preventative and treatment techniques.
- Discover breakthroughs in genetic research
The project is broken down into 3 phases:
Phase 1 is building the necessary infrastructure for genomic medicine and begin large-scale whole-genome sequencing. This work includes collecting samples from UAE nationals, analyzing DNA sequencing data, and recording results. The first phase will take at least 24 months.
The 2nd phase is the creation of artificial intelligence capabilities to facilitate more complex sequence analysis layered with longitudinal data, using what the DHA terms a ”massive” genomic databank.
In the third phase, Dubai intends to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies and academia to develop new precision medicine treatments.
