A project of the Instituto Pasteur of Montevideo and the University of Seoul will reveal the composition of the Uruguayan genome and enable to study which diseases affect the population. The initiative is supported by the IDB.

The Insituto Pasteur of Montevideo and the National University of Seoul (Korea) have agreed to work together on a project called Urugenomes, which will enable to decipher the Uruguayan genome composition, with the objective of understanding its implication in diseases affecting the population.

Thus, Uruguay may take a leading position in medicine based on the analysis of DNA and acquire basic skills for the creation of a new sector for the export of genomic services. The details of the project were announced at the headquarters of the Instituto Pasteur of Montevideo.

In the orbit of the Urugenomes project, led by scientist Hugo Naya, work is being performed to develop local capacities for the analysis of human genome sequences, both in research and support for genomic medicine and scientific development of new products and technologies. As a result, new service companies and laboratories shall be created with a clear focus on the export of genomic services, which in turn will generate a positive socioeconomic impact and increased international competitiveness in the global services sector.

The history of the sequencing of the human genome

The Urugenome website states that significant progress has been made in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics analysis in the past 10 years. They claim that «the US$ 1,000 human genome is on the brink of being achievable».

NGS technologies have been available in the market since 2004 and have enabled a quantitative and qualitative leap in obtaining genetic information. The first human genome was deciphered after 15 years of collaborative work involving several research institutions from China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom and United States, companies and over US$ 3,000 million in investment.

El Instituto Pasteur coordinará el desarrollo del genoma uruguayo