The National Cancer Institute is providing $13 million in funding for a colorectal cancer genetics research project at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, according to a news release.
The four-year project will be led by Ulrike Peters, PhD, an associate member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division.
Dr. Peters and colleagues will use next-generation sequencing, which captures entire genome sequences, to identify genetic links to colorectal cancer.
Dr. Peters and colleagues have spent the last four years studying the genes linked to colorectal cancer through the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO). The Hutchinson Center houses GECCO's coordinating center.
"This is an important step, to look at much of the genetic variation across the entire genome. We didn’t have the opportunity to study this in the past with the technologies we had before," Dr. Peters said, in the release. "We are now able to investigate millions of common and rare variants across the genome. Next-generation sequencing is becoming more readily available to look at these variants on a large scale."
Related Articles on Colorectal Cancer:
Colonoscopy Coding Inconsistencies Create Confusion
NC's Atlantic Gastroenterology Opens Genetic Colon Testing Clinic
Mayo Clinic Replaces Liters of Laxative for Colonography With Four Pills