The UK will create the world’s first real-time surveillance system to monitor the threat of infectious diseases and rapidly diagnose cancer, the government has announced.
A new partnership has been formed between the UK government, Genomics England, UK Biobank, NHS England and life sciences company Oxford Nanopore, which was founded in 2005 as a spinout from Oxford University.
Oxford Nanopore uses long-read sequencing technology to analyse genes and pathogens to rapidly diagnose a range of cancers, along with rare and infectious diseases.
The technology can sequence long strands of DNA or RNA in one go, without breaking it up into smaller fragments.
The aim is for Oxford Nanopore’s technology to help create an early warning system for future pandemics and potential biological threats.
Developed in partnership with the NHS, the technology will be used in the expansion of NHS England’s respiratory metagenomics programme, being led by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
It uses samples from patients with severe respiratory infections and rapid genetic testing to match those patients with the right treatments within six hours.
This will enable potential outbreaks of bacterial or viral diseases to be monitored alongside antimicrobial resistance across the country.
Following an initial successful pilot at St Thomas’ Hospital, the technology will now be rolled out from 10 to up to 30 NHS sites.
Wes Streeting, health and social care secretary, said: “Our NHS was already on its knees when the pandemic struck, and it was hit harder than any other comparable healthcare system.
“This historic partnership with Oxford Nanopore will ensure our world-leading scientists have the latest information on emerging threats at their fingertips.”
Gordon Sanghera, CEO at Oxford Nanopore, said: “By working alongside our partners on shared goals of improved patient outcomes – whether in cancer, genetic disease or infectious disease – and pandemic preparedness, we believe we can deploy our unique DNA sequencing technology in ways that are most impactful for the people of the UK.”
The UK government says this partnership forms part of its 10-Year Health Plan’s ambitions to shift the NHS from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention, helping keep patients out of hospital.
