Press Release
Luxembourg unlocks Europe’s DNA: €20 Million project to revolutionize healthcare
Luxembourg Institute of Health to propel European genomic advancements in Genome of Europe project
The European Commission unveiled the participation of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) in the Genome of Europe (GoE) initiative, a landmark multi-country effort aimed at revolutionizing genomic research across Europe.
The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) celebrates a landmark achievement in European genomics. Indeed, the European Commission has awarded a prestigious €20 million grant to the Genome of Europe (GoE) project, an innovative multi-country initiative aimed at revolutionizing biomedical research and healthcare across the continent. LIH, alongside the National Health Data Repository of Luxembourg (LNDS), is a full partner in GoE, playing a role in shaping the future of European healthcare.
The GoE project, with a total budget of €45 million and spanning 26 Member States along with several other countries, represents a landmark collaboration in genomics. Under this ambitious endeavour, LIH and LNDS join forces with 48 partners across 27 European countries to establish a European reference genome based on the whole-genome data of 100,000 representative European citizens, with each country contributing according to population size. This reference genome, expected by early 2028, will serve as a cornerstone for cutting-edge medical research, personalized healthcare, and public health initiatives. Notably, the LIH aims to contribute to the sequencing effort of the consortium by bringing in 200 samples from its existing cohorts, showcasing Luxembourg’s commitment to advancing genomic research and healthcare innovation.
LIH’s participation also underscores Luxembourg’s commitment to genomic research and healthcare innovation. As part of the Genome of Europe project, Luxembourg will contribute to defining ethical, legal, and societal conditions for generating the reference genome, ensuring data security, and embedding GoE data within the Digital Europe Programme-funded Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI). GoE will thus actively contribute to the design and development of this federated Genomic Data Infrastructure, supporting the storage, management and integration of European Whole Genome Sequences (WGS) reference databases.
Dr Frank Glod, Deputy CEO, expressed enthusiasm about these developments, stating,
The Genome of Europe project represents a significant leap forward in our understanding of human genetics and its applications in healthcare. LIH and LNDS are proud to be full partners in this transformative initiative, which will pave the way for personalized medicine and improve health outcomes for individuals across Europe.
The Genome of Europe project aligns with LIH’s mission to advance scientific knowledge and improve public health. Through collaborative efforts like GoE, LIH and LNDS continue to contribute to the global effort to harness the power of genomics for the betterment of society.
About the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH)
The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) is a public biomedical research organization focused on precision health and invested in becoming a leading reference in Europe for the translation of scientific excellence into meaningful benefits for patients.
LIH places the patient at the heart of all its activities, driven by a collective obligation towards society to use knowledge and technology arising from research on patient derived data to have a direct impact on people’s health. Its dedicated teams of multidisciplinary researchers strive for excellence, generating relevant knowledge linked to immune related diseases and cancer.
The institute embraces collaborations, disruptive technology and process innovation as unique opportunities to improve the application of diagnostics and therapeutics with the long-term goal of preventing disease.