The Japanese government will work with three biobanks to improve medical treatments for patients based on their genetic information. Beginning next year, the country’s budget will include funds for this initiative in genomic medicine. The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development and the biobanks will standardize data formats of people’s genetic information. The biobanks currently have genetic data on about 400,000 individuals, and the government hopes to stimulate advancement in genomic medicine by enabling analysis of large amounts of information at once. Research on genes that may be involved in cancer, dementia and rare diseases that are hard to cure will be emphasized.

Source: The Japan News