(NU1687) The Provision of DNA Genotyping Services for the Litmus Study

The Newcastle University Translational and Clinical Research Institute is one of three research institutes established in 2019 following a restructure within the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Its members map across the biomedical research landscape. A number of major research projects are led from within the Institute including Liver Investigation: Testing Marker Utility in Steatohepatitis (LITMUS). This project funded by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking, brings together clinicians and scientists from prominent academic centres across Europe with companies from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). Their common goals are developing, validating and qualifying better biomarkers for testing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Strongly associated with the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes that are testing healthcare systems worldwide, NAFLD is an increasingly common cause of advanced liver disease that is characterized by substantial inter-patient variability in severity and rate of progression. Biomarkers under investigation in the project include genes that contribute to NAFLD progression. The purpose of this tender process is to engage a supplier to run Illumina OmniExpressExome arrays on 1200 supplied DNA samples. Samples will be supplied for processing in 1 batch in mid-2021 (July-August).