Complete Genomics to Sequence “Wellderly” Study Genomes
Scripps Health Chief Academic Officer Eric Topol might want to meet Edwin Abbott Abbott. Abbott, in his 19th century novel Flatland, wrote about a world where disease is punished as crime while crime is treated as disease. Perhaps less imaginative then the author, biologists have begun to ask the obvious question. “do we inherit wellness?”
The company Complete Genomics has announced that it will sequence the genomes of 1,000 people who have lived lengthy. The company will conduct the sequencing at its own cost and help build a database for the Wellderly Study, a project led by Scripps with 2,000 people with a median age of 87 and ranging up to 108 years old who have remained free from major diseases and most chronic medications.Dr.Topol said “There have been a significant number of longevity studies, but the Wellderly Study is the first one focused specifically on healthy aging,” “Furthermore, through our partnership with Complete Genomics, we are now conducting the largest whole genome study of a single phenotype — healthy lifespan or healthspan.”