Jim’s role as Project Lead was to develop and implement the plans to deliver a world-class research facility offering scientists from around the world access to Genomics England’s clinical and genomic datasets.
A “World-Class Research Environment” supports researchers to generate new understanding of genomics but in addition must have the necessary tools and facilities to attract “World-Class Researchers” much in the same way that a great laboratory will attract the best talent.
One of the key deliverables of the 100,000 Genome Project is a lasting legacy of rich research data. The 100,000 Genome Project presents particular challenges in the provision of a research environment, not least because of the size of the datasets, around 15PB, but also because of the sensitivity of the clinical information associated with the whole genome sequence data. Genomics England is implementing a “Reading Library” that allows researchers to build and implement sophisticated tools for the analysis of clinical and genomic data, and yet to prevent its download from Genomics England’s secure data centres.