A ground-breaking new research project that will explore the genetics and DNA of children to better understand how to prevent childhood diseases and develop new treatments has launched.
The new programme is known as the DNA, Children and Young People’s Health Resource, or D-CYPHR for short, and has been launched by a range of organisations, including partners from:
- The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) BioResource
- The NHS
- The University of Cambridge
- Anna Freud
How it works
The initiative, which any person from birth up to the age of 15 can join, works by participants donating a sample of their saliva and answering a health and lifestyle questionnaire. Parent or guardian consent must be obtained and identifying information will be omitted from both submissions.
The child or young person then joins D-CYPHR, allowing scientists to study their genetics, alongside thousands of others, to understand more about what causes illness, how to detect it earlier, and develop more personalised treatments.
The researchers will investigate everything from diabetes, rare diseases, immune conditions and mental health challenges.
Why it matters
Despite over 1.7 million children suffering a long-term health condition in England, most research is carried out on adults, meaning the sector loses important insight into how certain diseases originate and progress.
Genetics has already proven to be beneficial in some areas, including how diabetes is treated in children and the national launch of the whole genome sequencing project for babies and children in intensive care.
”We’ve seen that genetics can help us unlock our understanding of diseases,” said the NIHR’s chief executive, Professor Lucy Chappell. “Now we want to build on that knowledge by ensuring that our children and young people can access the power of genetics to transform diagnosis and treatment through this research.”
She continued: “This exciting new project will help us develop an understanding of their genetics in a way that is more detailed and focused than ever before.”
The University of Cambridge’s clinical lead for the D-CYPHR project, Dr Anna Moore, added: “We’ve got a huge gap in our understanding of how diseases develop as children grow up, for both physical and mental health.
“We’ve carefully designed and piloted the programme alongside children, schools and families over two years. This has been very important as this project will also be a way to address inequality in health research – health research needs to benefit everyone, and so we need children and young people from all backgrounds to get involved.”
D-CYPHR is the biggest project of its kind in the country and the first in the world, according to the NIHR.