Agenda

6pm         Arrival and refreshments
6.30pm    Lecture
7.30pm    Lecture finishes

In an extraordinary leap forward for science, the Human Genome Project took 13 years and $3 billion to sequence the first human genome and was completed in 2003. Since then, great advances in sequencing technology mean that it is now possible to sequence a human genome in days at a cost of under $1,000. This has opened the way for the use of genome sequencing in healthcare.

But life is never simple. The job of interpreting a genome is complex. The incredible power of modern computing helps a great deal, but it’s still challenging to tell the difference between an innocent genomic ‘quirk’ from a dangerous, disease-causing ‘glitch’.

Dr Scott will expand on this and other medical and ethical challenges that the NHS faces as it begins to use genomes for healthcare, speaking from the experience of his work as a clinical geneticist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and at the UK government’s world leading 100,000 Genomes Project.

The lecture begins at 6.30pm and lasts for 60 minutes. Registration is from 6pm – refreshments will be served.

Dr Richard Scott

Richard Scott is clinical lead for rare disease for the 100,000 Genomes Project at Genomics England and a consultant and honorary senior lecturer in clinical genetics at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the University College London (UCL) Institute of Child Health.

Richard trained in medicine at Cambridge University and UCL. He specialised in paediatrics and subsequently clinical genetics in London, and completed his PhD on childhood cancer syndromes at the Institute of Cancer Research. His main interests are in the genetic diagnosis of rare childhood disorders and moving new genetic technology into NHS use to achieve this.