The University of California, San Francisco announced last week that the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) will provide $7.2 million in new funding to support to new precision medicine research projects.
The CIAPM was established in 2015 with $3 million in initial funding as a partnership between California, the UC system, and other public and private entities to advance precision medicine-focused data, tools, and applications. The initiative, which is hosted by UCSF, currently supports two projects: the California Kids Cancer Comparison, which is using bioinformatics to identify treatment options for children with intractable cancer; and the Precision Diagnosis of Acute Infectious Diseases, which is using genetic sequencing to diagnose patients with infections.
With the new funding, the CIAPM aims to fund up to six new projects that leverage existing technological and data resources in California and will be selected in a two-stage competitive peer-review process later this year. It will also use the money to support an analysis of the precision medicine ecosystem in the state to promote new public/private collaborations.
“I am thrilled that the state has provided additional funding to this initiative to help advance precision medicine in California,” CIAPM Leader and UCSF researcher Atul Butte said in a statement. “There is an incredible opportunity here to foster strong collaborations between innovators from all sectors, collaborations that will accelerate the achievement of our vision for improving health and healthcare by better understanding each person’s unique circumstances.”
The funding opportunity is open to any public, private, academic, or nonprofit institution in the state, UCSF noted.
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