NIH's All of Us Research Program releases first genomic dataset

By The Science Advisory Board staff writers

March 21, 2022 -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made nearly 100,000 highly diverse whole genome sequences, including approximately 50% from individuals that have historically been underrepresented in research, available through its All of Us Research Program.

These data can potentially lead to new breakthroughs and advancing discoveries to reduce persistent health disparities, the NIH said. All of Us now ranks among other large genomic research efforts worldwide, and it works with multiple partnering universities in the U.S.

The genomic data are available via a cloud-based platform, the All of Us Researcher Workbench. It also contains information from many of the participants' electronic health records, Fitbit devices, and survey responses. The platform also links to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The NIH said that the combination of multifaceted data will allow researchers to better understand the health determinants.

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