Genetic Research Program Receives Grant
The Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH) was awarded a $24.8 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a new resource for studying disease, health, and aging.
With funding from this grant, the RPGEH will conduct a genome-wide analysis of DNA samples from 100,000 Kaiser Permanente members from Northern California who have volunteered to join the RPGEH.
The Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a partner on the grant and will perform the actual genotyping. Grant funds will be shared by both institutions.
The new and detailed genetic information—which has never before been generated on such a large and diverse population—will be linked to decades of historical clinical information on these participants, taken from health surveys and the Kaiser Permanente electronic health record. Environmental information will also be added to the new resource, such as information about air and water quality, proximity to parks and healthy foods, and much more.
The RPGEH was launched by Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in 2005. Soliciting participation from among the region's three million Kaiser Permanente members, the program aims to collect DNA samples and health surveys from 500,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California by 2013, which would make it one of the largest population-based biobanks in the world.
This new NIH grant builds on an $8.6 million grant awarded in December 2008 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio.
Participation in the RPGEH is completely voluntary, confidential, and secure. An individual's genetic information is not used in genetic research studies without his or her written consent.
"This investment of federal dollars will provide researchers with access to a uniquely rich resource for research on genetic and environmental effects on health, aging, and disease," says Cathy Schaefer, PhD, executive director of the RPGEH. "Providing access to genome-wide genetic data on such a large population, combined with rich clinical and environmental data, is without precedent."