3955 results for "*geneti*"

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• Cancer genomics for elucidation of molecular mechanisms of carcinogenecis and progression in lung cancer

  The objective of this project is to analyze genomic aberrations and gene expression changes such as mutations, deletions, amplifications, and hypermethylation in human lung cancer cells at the somatic cell level, and to contrast these with clinicopathological information to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and characteristics of lung cancer development and progression at the genetic level.

  Study JGAS000756

• DNA demethylation is associated with malignant progression of low-grade gliomas

  To elucidate the mechanisms of tumor progression is key to discovering strategies for treating patients with lower-grade glioma. Thus to characterize the changes in the molecular profile during malignant progression, we performed methylation array analysis (122 tumors), whole-exome sequencing (36 tumors and matched normal samples), and RNA sequencing (31 tumors). This cohort included 24 matched pairs of initial lower-grade gliomas and recurrent tumors, most of which showed malignant progression when they recurred. Nearly half of IDH-mutant glioblastomas that had progressed from lower-grade gliomas exhibited characteristic partial DNA demethylation in previously methylated genomic regions of their corresponding initial tumors, which had the glioma CpG island methylator phenotype (G-CIMP). In these glioblastomas, cell cycle-related genes were upregulated, RB and PI3K-AKT pathway genes were frequently altered. Notably, bioinformatics analysis revealed that late-replicating domain was significantly enriched in the demethylated regions that were mostly located in non-regulatory regions, suggesting that the loss of DNA methylation during malignant transformation may involve mainly passive demethylation due to a delay in maintenance of methylation during accelerated cell division. Nonetheless, a limited number of genes including IGF2BP3, which potentially drives cell proliferation, were presumed to be upregulated due to demethylation of their promoter. Thus, cell proliferation was further promoted by passive demethylation in the promoter region of these oncogenic genes. Our data indicated that demethylation of the G-CIMP profile found in a subset of recurrent gliomas reflects accelerated cell divisions accompanied by malignant transformation. Oncogenic genes activated by such epigenetic change represent potential therapeutic targets.

  Study JGAS000146

• Expression profiling of Gorlin iPSCs in the osteoblast induction culture

  In this study, we utilized human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based models of the two diseases, named Gorlin syndrome and McCune Albright synfrome, to understand the roles of Hh signaling in osteogenesis, especially in mineralization. To examine which signaling pathways and genetic networks were affected by Gorlin syndrome-associated PTCH1 mutation in human osteoblastogenesis, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis in the osteoblast induction culture of WT and Gorlin iPSCs.

  Study JGAS000218

• Gene expression of human Th17 cells before and after activation

  Although gene expression of human Th17 clones has been studies, to date, molecular mechanisms for human Th17 development remain unclear. We have analyzed gene expression of human Th17 cells before and after activation. Th17-cell clones from peripheral blood CD4 T cells cultured with LPS-stimulated dendritic cells derived from monocytes stimulated by TNF were established by a limited dilution method. One of the Th17 clones was proliferated significantly, and high percentages (>70%) of Th17 cells in the cultured cells were maintained by addition of monocytes, IL-1b, and IL-15. CD161+CXCR3- cells (CD161+Th17) in the cultures were sorted and purified up to approximately 97% of IL-17-producing cells after treatment with PMA/ionomycin. Furthermore, these cells were treated with TCR-stimuli, IL-1b, and IL-23 for 2 days, and IL-17-producing Th17 cells (active-Th17) detected by IL-17-catch-up antibodies were sorted. Total RNA sampled from 1x 106 CD161+Th17, active-Th17, na?ve CD4 T cells, or CXCR3+ Th1 cells from combined CD4 T and dendritic cell cultures was used for SAGE. SAGE was performed by using SOLID TM SAGETM kit with barcoding adaptor molecules (Applied Biosystems). DNA sequence was analyzed by using AB5500 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), and gene expression was analyzed by using SOLID? SAGETM software (Applied Biosystems). Our data shows high levels of IL-17A-mRNA expression by active-Th17; however, but only slight expression by CD161+Th17. Therefore, the data could provide alteration of gene expression by Th17 cells before and after stimulation.

  Study JGAS000005

• Na?ve Treg-specific genomic DNA hypomethylation for autoimmune disease susceptibility

  Naturally occurring regulatory T (Treg) cells, which are specifically expressing the transcription factor FOXP3, CD25 and CTLA-4, are indispensable for the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance and homeostasis. Mutations of the FOXP3, CD25 and CTLA4 genes compromise the function of natural FOXP3+CD25+CD4+ Treg cells and cause severe autoimmune diseases showing Mendelian inheritance. Also, altered Treg-specific epigenetic changes, such as DNA hypomethylation and enhancer activation, impair the expression of these molecules in developing Treg cells, causing autoimmune diseases. It is obscure, however, whether Treg cells significantly contribute to the development of polygenic common autoimmune diseases (such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis), which afflict ~10% of the population. Recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) of common autoimmune diseases has revealed many autoimmune disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in enhancer regions of immune cells, for example, in non-coding regions of T cell activation-associated genes such as CD25 and CTLA4. These findings, especially the involvement of common T-cell genes in the functions of both Treg cells and effector T cells, prompt one to ask whether autoimmune disease-associated causative SNPs impact on the functions of either disease-causing effector T cells or disease-suppressing Treg cells. Here, we have explored epigenetic profiles of human Treg and conventional T (Tconv) cells in na?ve or activated states, and found that autoimmune disease-associated SNPs are predominantly enriched in Treg-specific CpG demethylated regions (Treg-DRs), which were mostly included in Treg-specific super-enhancers. Treg-DRs are developmentally established in na?ve Treg cells before antigenic stimulation, distinct from activation-induced CpG hypomethylation in Treg or Tconv cells, and highly associated with Treg cell-specific transcriptional and epigenetic changes. Taken together, genetic variants affecting endogenous development of natural Treg cells and their Treg-intrinsic functions are causative of common autoimmune diseases, indicating natural Treg cells as a key target for their treatment and prevention.

  Study JGAS000145

• Response to Hepatitis B vaccine

  Approximately 5-10% of individuals, who are vaccinated with a hepatitis B (HB) vaccine designed based on the HBV genotype C, fail to acquire protective levels of antibodies. Host genetic factors behind low immune response to the HB vaccine were investigated by GWAS and HLA association tests. GWAS and HLA association tests were carried out using a total of 1,193 Japanese individuals including 107 low responders (HBsAb ?10 mIU/mL), 351 intermediate responders (10 mIU/mL< HBsAb <100 mIU/mL), and 735 high responders (HBsAb ?100 mIU/mL). Classical HLA class II alleles were statistically imputed using the genome-wide SNP typing data. GWAS identified independent associations of HLA-DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes, HLA-DPB1 alleles and BTNL2 gene with immune response to the HB vaccine designed based on the HBV genotype C. Five HLA-DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes and two DPB1 alleles showed significant associations with response to the HB vaccine in a comparison of three groups of 1,193 HB vaccinated individuals. When frequencies of DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes and DPB1 alleles were compared between low immune responders and HBV patients, significant associations were identified for three DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes, and no association was identified for any of DPB1 alleles. In contrast, no association for DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes and DPB1 alleles was identified in a comparison between high immune responders and healthy individuals. The findings in this study clearly show the importance of HLA-DR-DQ (i.e. recognition of a HB vaccine related HBsAg by specific DR-DQ haplotypes) and BTNL2 molecules (i.e. high immune response to the HB vaccine) for response to a HB vaccine designed based on the HBV genotype C.

  Study JGAS000341

• Department of Human Genetics at Yokohama City University (YCU) — Data Access Committee

  The Data Access Committee at Yokohama City University (Department of Human Genetics) is overseeing controlled access to data for our research manuscripts. Access is granted to bona fide researchers in line with the Data Access Agreement and DUO restrictions.

  Dac EGAC50000000770

• Comprehensive genetic landscape, immune checkpoint profiling, and establishment of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) of metachronous brain tumors from constitutive mismatch repair deficiency with a biallelic variant on MSH6

  Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD) syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes (PMS2, MSH6, MLH1, or MSH2) resulting in the development of a variety of different tumors, including brain neoplasms. This study molecularly characterized a Brazilian child with CMMRD, harboring two metachronous brain tumors (medulloblastoma and high-grade glioma), and established a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) of the CMMRD-associated brain tumor. Keywords: Brazil, Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome, exome, MSH6, medulloblastoma, high-grade glioma.

  Study EGAS50000000351

• LUMC Department Human Genetics, NeuroD-group

  Dac EGAC50000000749

• WES of Mino-VEN-R Mantle Cell Lymphoma Cells

  This project investigates the genetic basis of therapy resistance in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) using whole exome sequencing (WES) of the Mino_VEN_R cell line, a model of resistance to pirtobrutinib, a non-covalent BTK inhibitor. Our study suggested that drug-tolerant persister (DTP) cells evade therapy through metabolic and phenotypic reprogramming. By analyzing the exome profile of resistant cells, this study aims to identify mutations associated with treatment escape and cellular plasticity. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of resistance mechanisms and support the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.

  Study EGAS50000001088

• Investigating Host Genetic Risk Factors for Tuberculosis in Highly Endemic South African Populations

  It is apparent from our recent population genetic and admixture mapping work 1–3 that a substantial part of the ancestral input into the South African Coloured (SAC) population is from the San or Khoe groups, which are not well represented in publicly available genetic databases. It is a reasonable assumption that the SAC population in the Western Cape may have derived more genetic input from the present KhoeSan population in the Northern Cape than the San residing in Namibia. It was concluded by our group that it is indeed the southern African KhoeSan group, the ≠Khomani, that best represent the KhoeSan contribution seen in the SAC 4. More recently, it has been shown that there are ancestry related increases in TB susceptibility, especially with increased Bantu-speaking African and KhoeSan ancestry 5. We aim to elucidate the epidemiological and human-host genetic risk factors for TB and the immunological pathways modulating TB infection. The proposed sub-study will enroll people evaluated for TB at Northern Cape community health clinics and their contacts from their households and/or community. We will conduct a demographic interview, collect saliva, which will be used for genetic analysis, and blood to determine latent TB infection status and capture immunological responses to mycobacterial infections at the cellular level and RNA sequencing.

  Study EGAS00001007850

• Multimodal epigenetic sequencing analysis of cell-free DNA identifies biomarkers for ALS diagnosis and progression

  The role of the epigenome in age-related neurodegenerative disorders remains understudied. Here, we analyzed circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood to detect methylation changes as a liquid-biopsy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Our study included 20 patients with sporadic ALS, 10 patients with C9orf72-associated ALS, 10 asymptomatic carriers of the C9orf72 repeat expansion mutation, and 21 non-disease controls.

  Dac EGAC50000000739

• Sutherland Nine Ancient DNA DAC

  This Data Access Committee controls access for the genetic data from the Sutherland Nine. It consists of involved Scientists and Family respresentatives.

  Dac EGAC50000000529

• X chromosome dosage and the genetic impact across human tissues

  Study EGAS00001006996

• X chromosome dosage and the impact on the methylation pattern across human tissues

  Study EGAS00001007020

• DAC for Genetic and Microenvironmental Analysis of PTCL at Department of Hematology, University of Tsukuba

  Dac EGAC50000000600

• Jeju Genome Project DAC

  This Data Access Committee (DAC) evaluates and manages access requests for large-scale genomic and phenotypic datasets generated as part of the Jeju Genome Project (JGP). The committee's mission is to facilitate responsible data sharing to advance precision medicine and population genetics. The DAC ensures that data access is granted only to bona fide researchers who agree to the terms of the Data Access Agreement (DAA) and whose proposed research is strictly consistent with the informed consent provided by the participants and the ethical guidelines of the project.

  Dac EGAC50000000938

• After the completion of CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare. What's next?

  CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare were part of the EUCAN Cluster, made up of six projects that received funding under the same Horizon 2020 call. All EUCAN projects (CINECA, EUCANCan, EUCAN-Connect, euCanSHare, Receptor Plus, and ReCoDID) were aimed at facilitating data reuse and knowledge discovery by enhancing data exchange and long-term collaboration in the health field. Here are some highlights about EGA’s contribution to these projects. CINECA: advances in Federated discovery and infrastructure for cohorts CINECA (Common Infrastructure for National Cohorts in Europe, Canada, and Africa) developed a federated cloud-based infrastructure for making genomic and biomolecular data accessible. The project has assembled a virtual cohort of 1.4 million individuals from sources such as the EGA, CanDIG and H3Africa. The EGA–CRG co-leaded a work package Work Package 1 on Federated Data Discovery and Querying. Beacon v2, championed by Jordi Rambla and Lauren Fromont, has been one of the central elements for the discovery of human genetic and phenotypic data. The EGA-CRG contributed to the development of a model for cohort discovery inside the Beacon v2 model. The team also delivered a Discovery Portal was implemented to explore cohorts and individuals of synthetic data. It is a UI that gathers a network of Beacons, a service for query expansion, and a visualisation tool. Have a look at the Discovery Portal UI, gathering a network of Beacons. You will find entities such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), BioData.pt and the European Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI), among others. euCanSHare: facilitation of data access management This joint EU-Canada project aimed to build a European and Canadian FAIR platform for cardiovascular data sharing and analysis. The EGA’s tasks contributed to the development of the data management plan and data flows, main web-portal and interoperability protocols. An important part of the EuCanShare platform is the data access manager, a tool for the data owners to control the access to their sensitive datasets. We built a user-friendly interface for data access committees (data owners) to easily manage their data requests and access credentials. The data access portal facilitates the creation and internal organization of the data access committees as well as the linkage of data usage conditions to specific datasets. The interface includes filters for browsing requests and page to visualize the request history helping with the handling of data access requests. EUCANCan: toward a federation of clinical institutions in oncology The EUropean-CAnadian CANcer Network worked towards building a federated network to advance personalized medicine in oncology, by promoting the standard analysis, management and sharing of harmonized genomic and phenotypic data. The EGA led tasks on defining data flows and preparing an adapted infrastructure for long-term data storage and sharing. One of the key contributions was the conception of the EGA communities, offering standard and interoperable solutions for data discovery, processing, and sharing to projects and institutions that would like to manage and share data in the context of the EGA ecosystem. What's Next? The participation in projects such as CINECA, EUCANCan, and euCanSHare provide us with experience for future projects. We are happy to enhance data sharing and reuse, vital for advancing clinical and genomic research. The Discovery Portal is a wonderful proof of concept for the Beacon network. Next, we will finalise both the network and the user interface, and make sure it can be applied to more clinically-centred settings like hospitals. Most data hosted at the EGA are about cancer research. Currently, we contribute to building tools and infrastructure to empower oncology research in several European projects such as EUCAIM, EUCANIMAGE and EOSC4Cancer. We also do not lose sight of initiatives in the field such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) with the project ARGO, whose data model was adopted in EUCanCan.

  Blog cineca-eucancan-and-eucanshare-were-concluded-in-june

• The EGA at the International Congress of Human Genetics

  Today is the start of the International Congress of Human Genetics (ICHG). This event, hosted by the African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG) and the Southern African Society for Human Genetics (SASHG), will reunite international experts to highlight how genomic technologies are being managed to address challenges generated by the current status of Human Health and Genomics. The European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) will be at the Congress participating in workshops, meetings and talks where topics such as data access and discovery as well as the Federated EGA will be present. Data access and discovery In the context of the “Federated data analysis workshop“ that will be held the 26ᵗʰ, managed in the context of the CINECA project, a hands-on-session on Beacon v2 Discovery will be led by Mauricio Moldes. Another session on authorisation and data access will be presented by Mallory Freeberg and Coline Thomas, with and introduction by Thomas Keane. During the workshop, an end-to-end federated data analysis use case will be presented. Data access and discovery In the context of the “ Federated data analysis workshop“ that will be held the 26ᵗʰ, managed in the context of the CINECA project, a hands-on-session on Beacon v2 Discovery will be led by Mauricio Moldes. Another session on authorisation and data access will be presented by Mallory Freeberg and Coline Thomas, with and introduction by Thomas Keane. During the workshop, an end-to-end federated data analysis use case will be presented. During the last four years, CINECA has been identifying gaps in data sharing between Africa, Canada and Europe in order to build a federated solution for data access. Thomas Keane will present the project within the sessions happening the 24ᵗʰ. The Federated EGA at the ICHG A Federated EGA poster will be shown during the Poster Session 1 that will take place the 23ʳᵈ. The objective is to bring awareness of the European Genome-phenome Archive as a resource for permanent archive and secure data sharing. In this context, the network generated by the Federated EGA is key for cases where research data cannot be shared outside local jurisdictions. The Federated EGA was officially launched on 2022 with research institutes from five countries becoming the first nodes of this network. Nowadays, with more than 20 nodes preparing to join, it aims to become the largest human omics data sharing initiative towards understanding human health and disease. The H3Africa Initiative and the African research represented in the EGA 1.1% of the EGA studies include samples from African populations. Countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Uganda or Egypt, among others, are present in the 72.577 samples from African individuals archived at the EGA. 23 EGA datasets are managed by the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative (H3Africa). This Initiative will celebrate its Consortium Meeting the 27ᵗʰ and 28ᵗʰ, back-to-back with the ICHG. H3ABioNet, the Pan African Bioinformatics Network for the H3Africa consortium, will also take this context to celebrate its 10-Year Symposium during the Congress. Members of the EGA team will attend both of them, as the H3ABioNet works in conjunction with H3Africa projects, to submit data to the European Genome-Phenome Archive.

  Blog the-ega-at-the-international-congress-of-human-genetics

• Shedding light over COVID-19 susceptibility and severity

  “One of the most remarkable features of SARS-CoV-2 infection is the variation in consequence ranging from asymptomatic to life-threatening” state the authors of the majestic Nature paper released in accelerated pre-view on July 2021. This variation in consequences represent not only an issue of burning medical relevance, but also a scientific and intellectual challenge for scientists around the globe. Researchers are known to be easily triggered by a challenge, and they recently demonstrated to be even better at double their efforts to focus on an urgent societal need. In this work led and coordinated by the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (COVID-19 HGI), researchers gathered data from 49,562 cases and two million controls from 46 studies performed worldwide. The majority of the data has been deposited at the EGA, where 29 datasets have been collected under the study number EGAS00001005304. Data gathered from diverse sources conferred a huge robustness to the results. Genetic data from different ancestry origin were included in the analyses, even though data from patients with European origin was highly predominant (approx. 75%). Separated analysis of the different ancestries gave rise to relevant differences in the results, highlighting how important it is to take this aspect in consideration for future studies. Data from the individual studies was compiled into three categories according to COVID-19 severity for a meta-analysis: (a) critically ill cases (b) moderate or severe cases (c) all cases. They were paired with non-COVID-19-reported controls. All three analysis resulted in a total of 13 genetic loci associated with COVID-19 severity. Out of those, 9 loci associated specifically with critical illness, while 6 (a few overlapped) associated with moderated illness. Some genomic position matched previous findings. Interestingly, working with such an enormous amount of data allowed the depth to discriminate association with disease susceptibility vs severity, an issue of large medical relevance. Several loci mapped into biological relevant genes, like TYK2, PPP1R15A and FOXP4, previously implicated in immune response and/or lung functions. Researchers participating in the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative have worked in an unprecedented time-tight collaboration, prioritizing data sharing and collective results to tackle the pandemic affecting the world. The scientific community won’t miss any of the lessons to learn from this, and the EGA is ready to keep working to enable safe data sharing and fruitful collaborations.

  Blog covid-19-susceptibility-and-severity

• GCAT | Genomes for life

  The GCAT project is a prospective cohort study that was designed to recruit the general population of Catalonia, the north-east region of Spain. This study is a long-term genomic, environmental and lifestyle cohort project that aims to evaluate and track multiple pathologies as well as biologically related traits. By the end of 2017, the GCAT Study had recruited a total of 20 000 participants aged 40–65 years. Participants who agreed to take part in the study completed a self-administered computer-driven questionnaire, and underwent blood pressure, cardiac frequency and anthropometry measurements. For each participant, blood plasma, blood serum and white blood cells are collected at baseline. The GCAT Study has access to the electronic health records of the Catalan Public Healthcare System. Participants are followed biannually for/during, at least, 20 years after recruitment. Therefore, the GCAT Study offers a unique opportunity to integrate diverse data to allow the identification of novel relations among different biomarkers and conditions. Results may lead to the development of new genetic, genomic, epigenomic and proteomic diagnoses and screening tests, as well as new public health recommendations. The only currently available population-based prospective cohort study in Spain to the date, including more than 4899 genotyped participants and 800 whole genome sequences is now stored in the EGA archive under accession id EGAS00001003018.

  Blog gcat-genomes-for-life

• Providing access to COVID-19 data: one year later

  response efforts On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Four months later, the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) released its first COVID-19 dataset. This dataset – single cell RNA and VDJ sequencing of B cells from 60 COVID-19 patients – showed that neutralizing antibodies could be identified by high-throughput sequencing in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. That was one year ago. Today, the EGA provides access to fifteen COVID-19 datasets from researchers across seven countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. These studies represent almost 17,000 individuals and have resulted in at least sixteen publications and preprints. Researchers deposit controlled access COVID-19 data at EGA The global research community has come together rapidly to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and better understand the related disease, COVID-19. These research efforts generate valuable genetic and phenotypic data from patients and research participants that can be shared with approved researchers. The EGA enables sharing of this research data by providing a service for archiving and controlled distribution of sensitive data. Over the past year, the EGA has worked with researchers to archive and distribute COVID-19 data from high-throughput sequencing experiments, genotyping studies, and phenotypic information. These datasets investigate the immune system, blood, and cells and tissues of the lung, which are relevant for studying a contagious respiratory illness caused by a viral infection. *Study Spotlight. In January 2021, Ancestry.com demonstrated the utility of deep phenotyping based on self-reported outcomes from a large population of mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. They identified genetic associations with eight COVID-19 phenotypes and showed distinct patterns of association, most notably related to the chr3/SLC6A20/LZTFL1 and chr9/ABO regions. The supporting data is available at the EGA to approved researchers and includes both genotype and phenotype data for 15,000 individuals. EGA collaborates with global COVID-19 community Since the coronavirus outbreak, the EGA has collaborated with other life science resources to support discovery and access to COVID-19 datasets. COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. With the NHGRI’s Genomic Data Science Analysis, Visualization, and Informatics Lab-space (AnVIL) platform, the EGA enables sharing of individual-level genetic and phenotypic data from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (HGI). This initiative aims to generate, share, and analyze data from COVID-19 host genetics research projects to better understand the genetic determinants of COVID-19 susceptibility, severity, and outcomes. In response to COVID-19, the EGA actively supports COVID-19 data submissions and integration of data access and flow into the COVID-19-HGI analysis platform. *Study Spotlight. The COVID-19 HGI has combined individual-level data for 13,868 COVID-19 positive patients (N=7,167 hospitalized) from 17 cohorts in nine countries. The data were used to assess the association of the major common COVID-19 genetic risk factor (chromosome 3 locus tagged by rs10490770) with mortality, COVID-19-related complications, and laboratory values. The genotype and phenotype data for 10 of these cohorts is available at the EGA to approved researchers under accession EGAS00001005304. Fig 1: EGA COVID-19 studies are searchable in the European COVID-19 Data Portal alongside other COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 public datasets. European COVID-19 Data Portal. EGA-archived COVID-19 data are discoverable via the European COVID-19 Data Portal (Fig. 1), which brings together public and controlled access data to accelerate coronavirus research for the international community. By indexing all COVID-19-related data in one place, researchers can more easily discover relevant datasets of interest, thus increasing the “FAIRness” (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) of this valuable data. Fig 2: SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences are imported from ENA and analysed in Galaxy to detect variants. Results are accessible to researchers through the COVID-19 Viral Beacon. COVID-19 Viral Beacon. The COVID-19 Viral Beacon tool was developed in collaboration with the European Nucleotide Archive and Galaxy to enable near real-time browsing of SARS-CoV-2 variability at genomic, amino acid, and motif levels (Fig. 2). The COVID-19 Viral Beacon allows researchers to (i) perform detailed searches about genomic variants, (ii) filter queries and find unique cases, (iii) filter data based on strain-specific variants, and (iv) explore associated metadata. It uses the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) Beacon standard including new Beacon v2 features. With this tool, researchers can study intra-host mutations on genomic regions of interest, or trace any variant frequency over time using raw read data. More than 200,000 SARS-CoV-2 analysed genomic data files are now available to researchers for further exploration. Ongoing COVID-19 efforts at EGA Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic is a global effort. Federated resources are necessary to support transnational deposition, access, and analysis of sensitive COVID-19 host genetics and other related data. At the same time, many countries now have emerging personalized medicine programmes which are generating data from national or regional healthcare initiatives. These data are subject to more stringent information governance than research data and often must comply with national data protection legislation. To address this need, the Federated EGA was established to serve as the primary global resource for discovery and access of sensitive human omics and associated data consented for secondary use. The Federated EGA will comprise a network of national human data repositories and will implement community standards and common interfaces. Launching Federated EGA promises to accelerate not only global research efforts to understand, diagnose, and treat COVID-19, but also to foster data reuse, enable reproducibility, and accelerate biomedical and disease research to ultimately improve human health.

  Blog providing-access-to-covid-19

• The last addition to the list of clonal evolution studies in the EGA

  Tumours of different types may arise from a single cell with at least one malignant mutation. Accumulation of subsequent hits generates lineages of cells with different cancer transformation power; thus, every clone follows an autonomous evolution, and several clones may co-exist into the same solid or liquid tumour. Clonal evolution studies are not new: the conceptual power of this approach has been recognized since the early ’80, especially in leukaemia patients. Nonetheless, these studies greatly benefit from recent technological improvements -machineries and protocols-, which enable ever-increasing sequencing depth, allowing the detection of low frequency variants and consequently more tumour clones. Note: the figure belongs to the original paper and is owned by the authors. Researchers at the University of Kyoto in Japan, have indeed used state of the art knowledge to investigate the clonal evolution of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in a large panel of patients. CML progresses from a majoritarian benign chronic phase into an often fatal blast crisis phase. It is nowadays known that blast crisis are triggered by genetic instability and disrupted DNA repair, which lead to accumulation of DNA mutations. The use of thyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting the Philadelphia chromosome have enormously improved the treatment of blast crisis, nonetheless resistant patients are still a medical challenge. Yotaro Ochi and collegues used Whole Exome Sequencing of paired chronic phase and blast crisis samples to depict the genetic landscape of progression from the first to the second stage of the disease (as illustrated in their figure). Their results were published in Nature Communication on this May 2021. They used a dataset previously deposited at the EGA (EGAS00001003071) and their new generated data have been made available under accession number EGAS00001005075. Their analysis of the occurring mutations contribute to understanding the mechanisms of CML evolution and therefore develop a protocol for early management of patients with a TKI resistance signature. Up to date, the EGA hosts 99 clonal evolution studies, developed in several cancer types, including myeloma, renal carcinomas and ovarian cancer, in addition to various leukaemia subtypes, where this approach has been more widely applied and produced important results and seminal papers. From a pan-cancer point of view, the definition of tumour architecture through clonal evolution studies is instrumental to unravel the mechanisms of disease progression and treatment-resistance insource. At the EGA, we are honoured to contribute to exciting and important science advances with our service!

  Blog the-last-addition-to-the-list-of-clonal-evolution-studies-in-the-ega

• The Federated EGA network

  In the last 10 years, most human omics data has been generated in the context of research consortia while recently there has been an emergence of large cohorts of human data generated by healthcare initiatives. Many countries in Europe now have nascent personalised medicine programmes. Thus, human genomics is shifting from being predominantly research-driven to being funded through healthcare systems. Genetic data generated in a healthcare context is subject to more stringent information governance than research data and nonetheless all data must adhere to national data protections laws. In this context, EGA identified the need for the development of a federated network to enable secure sharing of data whilst enabling genetic data to remain within the jurisdiction in which it was generated. The Federated EGA is designed to support national data management requirements for genomic and clinical data collected from citizens as part of healthcare or biomedical research projects. It includes a secure authorised access mechanism to support research use of these data across Europe and worldwide. We have engaged with over 14 ELIXIR countries to develop the federation model. The EGA federated configuration is composed of Central EGA, Federated EGA nodes and Community EGA nodes: Central EGA offers international submissions and helpdesk support, currently EGA co-managed by EMBL-EBI and CRG, Federated EGA nodes offer EGA services to researchers within their national jurisdiction, Community EGA nodes are individual institutions or initiatives with human genetic data intended to be shared with the research community. Key services available in the Federated EGA structure are: Central EGA Federated EGA node Community EGA nodes Data submission Offers international submissions service Offers submission service in a particular jurisdiction Does not offer an external submissions service Helpdesk support Provides external international helpdesk Provides helpdesk support for submitters in its jurisdiction and for approved users of data managed at its facilities Provides helpdesk support only for approved users of data managed at its facilities Data distribution Manages worldwide distribution for data hosted at Central EGA Manages worldwide distribution for data hosted at Federated EGA node Distribution for data hosted at Community EGA node EMBL-EBI and CRG have prepared a series of documents describing the overall governance and coordination framework. These describe the Federated EGA structure, the rights and responsibilities of the different parties and governing committees, and node operation guidelines. The federation governance proposal is under review by the first countries invited to join as Federated nodes, with further interested countries likely to join in the coming years. The Central EGA team has been working closely with many ELIXIR partners, including ELIXIR Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

  Blog the-federated-ega-network

• Data upcycling, powered by EGA

  In 2012 a collaborative effort headed by the teams of Carlos Caldas in Cambridge, UK and Samuel Aparicio, Canada, produced a pivotal study aimed at defining the mutational landscape of breast cancer. They gathered a collection of over 2000 breast cancer samples (METABRIC) associated with long-term clinical follow-up. They delineated an array of inherited and somatically acquired genetic variants and associated them to gene expression. This led to the identification of putative cancer-driving events and improved stratification of breast cancer patients. The study elicited huge attention and was tackled as herculean effort by fellow researchers. Cristina Curtis and her colleagues deposited the data in the EGA archive (EGAS00000000083). What they probably could not foresee is that their data would be reused more than 100 times, becoming one of the most downloaded datasets at EGA. In 2015, Frederik S. Varn and colleagues accessed the above-mentioned data from the New Hampshire, USA, to correlate it to transcriptional programs of hematopoietic cells infiltrated in breast tumours and found that those can influence patients' prognosis. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, improved the understanding of the interplay between immune system and cancer. Again, in 2017 the dataset was downloaded by an Italian/Polish collaboration and used to corroborate their mechanistic study that demonstrate how a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is aberrantly localized into the chromatin, where it modulates oncogenic isoforms expression, thus contributing to breast cancer. To date, the METABRIC dataset has been reused to contribute to 147 publications. Its impact on breast cancer research is incalculable, and it even spread beyond that, with recent contributions to the understanding of pan-cancer mechanisms and features. Some of the publications are translating into improvements in diagnosis and treatment of different types of breast cancer. This is just an example of how data upcycling can amplify the potential of any dataset, well past the scope of its creation, the imagination of its owners and any geographical border. At EGA, we are proud to empower such fruitful worldwide cycles of knowledge, providing a platform that enables safe sharing of sensitive genetic data.

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