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North West Coast Genomic Medicine Centre

The North West Coast Genomic Medicine Centre (NWC GMC) has been set up to help gain a better understanding of the genetic causes of cancer and rare diseases. It is part of the government’s 100,000 Genomes Project, which aims to sequence, or analyse, 100,000 genomes from participants with cancer, rare disorders and infectious disease. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals is a NWC GMC partner organisation, and patients with rare disorders (including rare neurological disorders) and cancer (including brain cancer) are participating.

Neurological conditions cause an immense global burden, ranging from the very common headache disorders which affect almost half of the world’s population, to rare but life-limiting disorders such as motor neurone disease. Dementias and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease will increase over the next 1-2 decades, but effective treatments are largely lacking – so there is an enormous need for neuroscience research.