Shanghai Unveils Human Phenome Project to Fully Interpret Secret of Human Life Passwords
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Mar 27 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Shanghai Unveils Human Phenome Project to Fully Interpret Secret of Human Life Passwords Shanghai Unveils Human Phenome Project to Fully Interpret Secret of Human Life Passwords

(Yicai Global) March 27 -- Shanghai officially unveiled its International Human Phenome Project (Phase I) as it plans to build a phenotypic map and database of healthy Chinese, the daily Shanghai Observer reported. The project will help unlock mysteries of human anatomy and genes and contribute to the development of precision medicines and higher health standards.

As China has a large population base with many samples and a wide range of phenotypes, establishing phenotypic data measurement standards and technical systems for the healthy will have important guiding significance for the development of precision medicine, said, Wang Chen, dean of the Peking Union Medical College and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

A landmark goal of the human phenome study is to draw the first Chinese full-phenome reference map to provide a basis for formulating Chinese health standards, said Jin Li, chief scientist of the project and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Human characteristics are determined by the interaction of genes and environment, Jin added. Broadly speaking, a phenome is the set of all phenotypes in the whole process from birth and growth to death.

A phenome can be simply divided into three categories: physical, such as facial features and skeleton structure characteristics; chemical, such as metabolite characteristics, protein composition and components of body fluids in different organs; and biological, that is, functional features, such as athletic ability, height, intelligence, grip strength and specific capabilities, Jin explained.

The phenome project requires many volunteers to participate in accurate physical examinations provided by the project team. The index for each person will exceed 20,000 to provide valuable data for the phenome study. The project will be officially launched in July this year. The early-stage of the first phase of the project requires 1,000 volunteers, and gradually increases to 10,000.

The International Human Phenome Project (Phase 1) will be led by experts from Fudan University, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Shanghai Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology. The research work will gather hundreds of scientists from both China and abroad.

In November 2017, Shanghai Municipal Government decided to provide nearly CNY560 million (USD89.6 million) in funding for the project.

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Keywords:   Healthcare Survey,Scientific Research,Big Data,Shanghai