The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has announced a five-year, $47.5 million commitment from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to launch a research center focused on investigating the genomic mechanisms of disease.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease will accelerate efforts to mine genetic data for insights into disease mechanisms — and eventually rationally designed treatments — by generating systematic datasets to help researchers understand how human genetic variants affect risk for common complex diseases. All datasets will be shared freely with the research community. To advance patient-centered research and precision medicine, the center will establish an exchange program to provide opportunities for scientists at Danish universities to study genomic technologies at the Broad Institute, with an initial focus on understanding type 2 diabetes and obesity and mapping human gene regulation. In turn, those collaborations are expected to catalyze and contribute to expanding biomedical research in Denmark.

The center also will align with existing international efforts, sharing data, methodology, and tools to contribute to the roadmap of the International Common Disease Alliance and work in common cause with investigators from other large-scale efforts such as the Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Common Metabolic Diseases and the Impact of Genomic Variation on Function consortia.

"As someone who is both a Dane and a longtime member of the Broad Institute community, I am thrilled at the launch of this exciting new center," said Kasper Lage, the new center's director and an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, director of bioinformatics of the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Surgery, and lead scientist at the Institute for Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark. "This collaborative initiative will give the next generation of Danish scientists the opportunity to benefit from the Broad's unique technology platforms as well as our expertise in genomic technologies, gene regulation, and data science. I am grateful for the tremendous vision of the Novo Nordisk Foundation for this new type of collaborative initiative and to everyone there who made this exciting partnership possible."

(Photo credit: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard)