Baylor receives NIH grant for Population Genomic…

Houston, TX - Jul 15, 2026

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Baylor College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Center will serve as the sequencing center for the new Population Genomic Screening Network (PGSN), an NIH-funded program piloting community-level testing for well-understood genetic conditions in a primary care setting. Baylor is expected to receive $9.9 million over five years from the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Enrolled participants will receive genomic screening for conditions like hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome, inherited high cholesterol and others where early detection, intervention and proven treatments can improve patient outcomes. The program will help determine best practices for effectively implementing genetic screening in primary care at the population level.

"We have witnessed the benefits of genetic screening, particularly in rare diseases and cancer genomics. But the wide potential for applying genomic tools for preventative care has yet to be tapped," said principal investigator Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center and Wofford Cain Professor in molecular and human genetics at Baylor. "This program will build on work already happening at Baylor and elsewhere, using genomics to help stratify disease risk and make recommendations about preventative care to help people before they get sick."

Baylor will sequence samples from participants at six clinical sites and generate clinical reports for clinicians to distribute to patients. This information can be used to determine any necessary follow-up care. Data also will be used for basic genetic discovery and outcomes-based research to understand the impact of interventions on downstream care.

Dr. Eric Venner and Donna Muzny, both associate professors in the Human Genome Sequencing Center, will serve as co-principal investigators.

The project will recruit around 30,000 adult participants at Wake Forest University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Yale University, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Each clinical group is partnering with multiple primary care providers to pilot genomic screening across a wide variety of clinical and geographical settings, including community clinics, private practice, university health systems, Veterans Affairs clinics and Federally Qualified Health Clinics. The University of Washington School of Public Health will serve as the coordinating center and will oversee comprehensive administration of logistics, communication and governance.

The network will recruit participants in its second year, with the first year devoted to planning and securing regulatory approvals needed to implement a screening protocol across all sites.