How Spain is improving human health through genomics

My recent visit to Barcelona to meet Illumina partners Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG) and Barcelona Children's Hospital Sant Joan de Déu as well as seeing the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), reaffirmed my belief that Spain, through this city in particular, is a world leader in utilizing the power of #genomics to improve human health.

CNAG-CRG—a trusted Illumina partner for several years—represents one of Europe’s leading centers for genomics and is part of important continent wide large-scale initiatives such as the Beyond One Million Genomes project. 

Our meeting with CNAG-CRG’s Director Ivo Gut focused on our new #NovaSeqX series and more broadly, how continued innovation in genomics can lead to the center launching even more ambitious large-scale projects.

The city is also home to Hospital Sant Joan de Deu—the largest pediatric facility in Spain—which uses some of our sequencers to help diagnose pediatric rare diseases. My Illumina colleagues Ana De La Cruz Herrera , Valentín Alcañiz Coronil and I were honored to tour the facility and meet several of its incredible doctors and researchers.

As with CNAG-CRG, our meeting with Sant Joan de Deu’s Director of the Institute for Rare Childhood Disorders, Francesc Palau , and geneticists Laura Martí Sánchez and Judith Armstrong , centered on our shared optimism that humankind can enter into the era of #precisionmedicine faster than we could ever hope for.

Finally, as someone who lived in Barcelona for several years, I always marveled at how the city has seamlessly incorporated its gothic architecture into the modern era; my visit to the BSC, built directly into the side of a beautiful chapel, perfectly embodies such integration. 

Meeting with Salvador Capella Gutierrez , head of the Spanish National Bioinformatics Coordination Node group, and Josep Lluis Gelpi , the node’s computational group manager, we learned that BSC is also home to one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, naturally located deep inside the chapel. 

Led by 760 R&D and data science professionals, the BSC’s high performance computing capabilities serve as a cornerstone for Spain’s leading-edge #personalizedmedicine initiative.

One city. Three meetings with some of genomics most cutting-edge and dynamic leaders. All are unlocking the power of the #genome to advance human health. 

Thank you Barcelona.