About the Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics

The Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics (QCMG) has been established with funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Queensland State Government and the University of Queensland.

The centre’s flagship project is the sequencing of 500 Pancreatic and Ovarian cancer genomes as part the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC).  

Australia’s commitment to the ICGC has required the formation of this world class sequencing centre within the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), University of Queensland (UQ) and currently employs 38 bioinformaticians and molecular biology research scientists dedicated to medical genome research.
  
The QCMG’s research efforts are built on collaboration with two commercial parties.

The University of Queensland has a long standing collaboration with Applied Biosystems (AB) and is actively involved in the development and refinement of next generation sequencing technology and its applications.

This partnership in technology development ensures that the QCMG is competitively placed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms that drive individual cancers on a large scale.

The QCMG also collaborates with Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) to develop computing and data management strategies. 

Their expertise and computational architecture is a key component of the QCMG’s ability to manage and interrogate the massive volumes of sequence data generated during genome sequencing.

About the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)

The primary goal of the ICGC is to create comprehensive genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic atlases of the molecular changes arising in human tumours.

 The ICGC will study up to 50 different tumor types and/or subtypes from across the globe over the next 5 years and is committed to making these data available to the entire research community as rapidly as possible.

The ICGC is also committed to accelerating cancer research by facilitating communication and co-ordination amongst its members.

The projects currently instigated by ICGC include:

  • Australia (Pancreas, Ovarian),
  • Canada (Pancreas),
  • China (Stomach),
  • France (Liver, Breast (HER2-positive),
  • India (Oral Cavity),
  • Japan (Liver)
  • Spain (Chronic lymphocytic leukemia),
  • United Kingdom (Breast (several subtypes), lung & Melanoma)
  • Germany (pediatric brain tumours).

LINK to ICGC:          http://www.icgc.org