China national gene bank to build new research base in Wuhan

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Genome sequencer BGI has reached an agreement with Wuhan City to build an agriculture research and training center there.

Mei Yonghong, director of the China National GeneBank (CNGB) and chair of BGI Agriculture Group, said as part of the BGI health town project, Wuhan would host a branch of CNGB and the agriculture center.

Run by BGI, a national gene bank went into operation in September 2016.

In addition to the gene bank in Shenzhen, BGI has a 20,000-square-meter standard laboratory and more than 20 life sciences research platforms in Wuhan, with cooperation arrangements with 120 hospitals in central China.

CNGB is the first national genebank integrating a large-scale bio-repository and an omics database, with the mission of collecting, preserving and exploiting genomics resources, and to build a network fostering global communication and collaboration on biodiversity conservation and genetic resources utilization. /CNGB Photo

"After seven years, our research base in Wuhan is now the largest multi-omics data center in our group," said Mei.

CNGB is the first national genebank integrating a large-scale bio-repository and an omics database. It is approved by the Chinese government, with the mission of collecting, preserving and exploiting genomics resources, and to build a network fostering global communication and collaboration on biodiversity conservation and genetic resources utilization.

It is supported by BGI’s high-throughput sequencing and bio-informatics capacity, and it will not only provide a repository system for biological collection but more importantly develop a novel platform to further understand genomic mechanisms of life.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

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