A new world of biobanking: CARTaGENE, created to accelerate breakthroughs in disease detection, targeted prevention and personalized medicine

Abstract: Despite all the advancements in detection and treatment of several chronic diseases such as cancer, chronic disease-related deaths worldwide continue to increase at an alarming rate. Therefore, it is not too surprising that prevention and personalized medicine are gaining in popularity when it comes to disease control. Chronic diseases are caused by a combination of an individual's genetic predisposition and their exposure to certain environmental risk factors. CARTaGENE was created to find solutions to these very complex diseases. In fact, we are conducting the largest prospective health study on men and women in Québec. Since 2007, the project has recruited 43 000 individuals, aged 40-69 years, representing six metropolitan regions of the province and collected detailed lifestyle, health and medical data on these individuals. The program also gathered detailed physical measurements, clinical and biochemical measures at baseline. The fundamental goal of this unique public-funded project is to support the scientific community in identifying the determinants of chronic diseases of environmental and/or genetic origin. It was also created to accelerate the process of translational medicine through the identification of biomarkers for early diagnosis, disease treatment and prevention. Epigenomic, genotyping, and exome sequencing data have been collected in subsets of CARTaGENE participants and have resulted in both preliminary data and high profile studies, while supporting over 40 research programs. These ongoing partnerships, our interoperability with other national biobanks, and our plan to develop other sectors of activity support our mission to provide meaningful high-quality data and biospecimens for years to come. For a HD version, please contact our access office: access@cartagene.qc.caLire moins