NewsRelease

UNCG, Duke and Cone Health System Join Forces
In $3.4 Million Research Project in Genomic Medicine
 

(L-R) Dennnis Barry of Moses Cone Health Systems, Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller at the press conference announcing the Guilford Genomic Medicine Project. Obscured from view is Dr. Margaret Pericak-Vance of Duke University's Center for Human Genetics

GREENSBORO – The Guilford Genomic Medicine Project, a landmark research project that will develop human genome data for treatment of Alzheimer’s and heart diseases, is being started by UNCG, Duke University Medical Center and Moses Cone Health System.

The new program will be funded through $3.4 million in the joint defense appropriation bill, approved recently by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. It was announced Monday (July 14) during a press conference at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, with U.S. Rep Brad Miller (D-NC, District 13) and U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC, District 6) on hand to break the news. Miller said that the project is multi-year and that the $3.4 million is start-up funding. The total was originally $4 million at the time of the announcement, but was reduced by $600,000 in the House-Senate compromise committee.

President George W. Bush is expected to sign the defense bill shortly. The project's steering committee is expected to meet in early October.

“The Human Genome Project is the next frontier of medical science and it can change medicine just unrecognizably in the next generation or two,” said Miller. “We will not just treat people for heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease – we will know who is going to get either of them and how we can treat them, tailor treatment to those individuals in a way that will prevent them from developing heart disease or Alzheimer’s.

“The project assures that Guilford County will be in the forefront of that research. This will be where some of the most important research of the Human Genome Project will be going on.”

During interviews, the partnership was described as “having the potential to transform health care in America.” The project is designed to build on new information derived from the international Human Genome Project about the basic set of inheritable genetic “instructions” for the development and function of human beings. Genome-based medicine is now at the leading edge of medical science, and provides the basic tools to prevent or reduce disease, increase survival rates, and decrease health care costs.

“We are very excited about this partnership,” Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan said. “It has great potential for lots of projects coming from the University with our partners are Moses Cone and Duke University. Our dream, Congressman Miller and Congressman Coble, is that at some point, when none of us in this room are still engaged in the project, people will think of the Guilford Genomic Medicine Project as the leader in bringing genomic medicine to the bedside and to lay people in clinical education.”

After the press conference, the major players went into a meeting to work out logistics for starting the project. A project summary set out the following responsibilities:

• UNCG’s Institute for Health, Science and Society, headed by Dr. Vincent Henrich, a professor of biology, will take the lead on the project’s education core. To carry out its responsibilities, UNCG will require the services of a genetic counselor, a public health advisor, a graduate assistant, educational material development and production, educational seminars, focus groups and administrative support.

 
• Duke’s Center for Human Genetics (CHG) will have major responsibilities for developing the project’s Bioinformatics Core and Databank/Genotyping Core, an effort that will be coordinated by its director, Dr. Margaret Pericak-Vance. The center is part of the Institute of Genomic Science and Policy which houses five research and education centers that work together to provide solutions to genomic questions and problems. Funding for Duke’s CHG will cover expenses for computer programmers, lab services, technicians, PC and mainframe computing resources, and equipment.

 
• Moses Cone Health System will coordinate the clinical implementation core of the project. Specific applications and potential benefits of genomics will be introduced to the community through a series of clinical pilot programs based in Guilford County under the leadership of Cone. Moses Cone Health System will require support for overall project coordination and administration in the first year, and for development and implementation of the clinical pilots in years two and three.

Expectations for the research project are high. Sullivan cited the landmark heart study begun in Framingham, Mass., in 1948 under the auspices of Boston University and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. “This project, I think, will be to future genomic medicine what the Framingham Study has been to the care and treatment and predisposition factors in cardiovascular and nutrition research,” said Sullivan. (Visit the Framingham Study site at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/framingham/index.html.)

“Guilford County is a very good place for this particular project because we have a stable, yet diverse, population,” Dennis Barry, CEO of Moses Cone Health System, said. “We are going to be focusing on heart disease and on Alzheimer’s. Cone is particularly well-suited in both these areas. We have had a very large heart program for many years. This project would not have come about except for the collaborative efforts of Duke, UNCG and Cone.”

Dr. Pericak-Vance said of the project: “What we’re doing here has the potential to transform the future of health care, not only for Guilford County, but as a prototype for the rest of the nation. What we have already learned from genomic research is rapidly outstripping the traditional frameworks in the practice of medicine. We have already identified genes that are associated with such important diseases as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease.

“For example, the preventative measures using this information are not currently implemented for those who are increased risk for these diseases. That’s basically because the models of how to implement and how to bring this from the laboratory to the bedside do not exist. This project will develop the model for how to guide decision-making by patients, health care providers and health care policymakers. What we learn here can change the practice of medicine, helping to prevent illness, improve survival and ultimately to reduce care cost.”

UNCG Provost Edward Uprichard said, This project will position Greensboro and Guilford County on the cutting edge of genomic medicine research and practice. Further, it has the potential to stimulate the development of a cottage industry related to genomic medicine for this geographic area. Guilford County is particularly suited for this type of longitudinal project because its population is fairly stable, and ethnically and racially diverse.”

Coble said of the project, “I am particularly excited about the opportunities this project would present for the veterans of Guilford County. It is my understanding that Guilford County veterans will be among the beneficiaries of this pilot project, and the knowledge derived from their voluntary participation could eventually benefit not only the Department of Defense but every family across our nation.”

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