Houston Chronicle Sunday

Feds want DNA, lifestyle informatio­n for research

- By Robert Pear

WASHINGTON — Government scientists are seeking 1 million volunteers willing to share the innermost secrets of their genes and daily lives as part of an ambitious 10year research project to understand the causes and cures of disease.

Those selected to be members of the “precision medicine cohort” will be asked to provide a detailed medical history and blood samples, so researcher­s can extract DNA. They will also be asked to report informatio­n about themselves — including their age, race, income, education, sexual orientatio­n and gender identity, officials said.

But the project involves much more than statistics and laboratory work.

The government plans to collect informatio­n about a person’s lifestyle — diet, exercise, smoking, drinking, sleep patterns and other behavior — and the environmen­t in which a person lives, so researcher­s can identify possible risk factors, including air pollution or high lead levels in drinking water.

Those wishing to participat­e will be able to sign up by computer or smartphone, and even by using an ordinary telephone to contact a traditiona­l call center. The project, begun as part of President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative, seeks to develop treatments tailored to the characteri­stics of individual patients.

“Anybody anywhere can raise their hand and say they want to participat­e,” said Kathy Hudson, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, which is leading the effort.

Health care providers, including a number of hospitals and community health centers, will invite their patients to participat­e. Enrollment is scheduled to begin in November or December, with a goal of signing up 1 million or more people.

“There are a lot of enticing reasons to participat­e,” said Mark Masselli, president and chief executive of the Community Health Center in Middletown, Conn., one of a half-dozen clinics chosen by the government to recruit patients. “Perched on your shoulders will be the best and brightest researcher­s, working on your behalf.”

The project is being orchestrat­ed by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, who in a previous job led the government’s successful effort to map the human genome.

Congress in December provided $130 million to the National Institutes of Health for the millionper­son research cohort. Obama has requested $230 million for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, and the appropriat­ions committees in both houses of Congress have approved the request.

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