BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Big debuts for big genomics

BGI and UK Biobank unveil massive genomic data troves

October 25, 2018 5:01 PM UTC

BGI Genomics Co. Ltd. (SZSE:300676) and UK Biobank Ltd. each made a splash this month with papers showcasing the wealth of information captured by their genomic data troves. Though the studies differed in design, technical methods and phenotypic data, both open new opportunities for translational research.

BGI’s study, published in Cell, leveraged over 140,000 samples from Chinese women collected through the company’s non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) service; it is the largest set of genomic data from pregnant women analyzed to date. The study reported genetic associations with reproductive traits such as twin pregnancy, analyzed non-human sequences in the samples to detect viral infections, and pinpointed genes associated with viral susceptibility...