International seal of approval to Department of Molecular Medicine
09.04.19
Happy employees at Aarhus University Hospital is now ready perform whole-genome analyses at the Danish National Genome Center (photo: Tonny Foghmar).
The department has been accredited to perform whole-genome analyses and is ready to head the sequencing centre at the Danish National Genome Center.
Happy employees at Department of Molecular Medicine (MOMA), Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Aarhus University Hospital, recently celebrated the accreditation to perform whole-genome analyses. The department was accredited according to ISO standard 15189 by the Danish accreditation institution DANAK. This means that the whole-genome analyses performed at the department comply with all standards and quality demands.
The celebration also marked that since 1 April the sequencing centre at the newly established Danish National Genome Center is headed from MOMA, where molecular biologist Kasper Thorsen is employed as head of the national sequencing centre. This centre includes laboratory facilities at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and at Aarhus University Hospital and will perform all the analyses for the Danish National Genome Center.
Mapping of the genome of the whole body
A whole-genome analysis is a complete genetic mapping of the three billion base pairs in the human body. Whole-genome analyses will be able to locate mutations in the genome, and this can be used e.g. to establish a diagnosis and find the right treatment.
At MOMA whole-genome analysis can be performed in only four days – from blood sampling to the test result. Data on all genes in just one patient are equivalent to 400 GB; this would amount to a pile of papers of almost 35 meters.
From 1 July, MOMA will start performing the first routine analyses for the Danish National Genome Center. In the beginning analyses will be focused on whole-genome analyses on patients with suspected rare and hereditary diseases.