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CHAPTER 3

Genomics and Public Health:

China’s Perspective

Wei Wang
Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia; Capital Medical University, Beijing,
China; Taishan Medical University, Taian, China

INTRODUCTION

The official opening of the China National GeneBank (CNGB) in Shenzhen on
September 22, 2016, marked a new phase in Chinese-international genomics
collaboration, providing scientists from across the world with access to one of
the world’s most comprehensive and sophisticated biorepositories, with the
goal of enabling breakthroughs in human health research and of contributing
to global biodiversity conservation efforts. The CNGB is the first national gene-
bank integrating a large-scale biorepository and an omics database, with the
mission of collecting, preserving, and exploiting genomics resources, and of
building a network fostering global communication and collaboration on bio-
diversity conservation and genetic resources utilization. In addition, the CNGB
is supported by high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics capacity, and
it will not only provide a repository system for biological collection but, more
importantly, develop a novel platform to further understand genomic mecha-
nisms of life. The CNGB will integrate new trends in life science and inter-
national cutting-edge developments in omics to further strengthen the “three
banks and two platforms” function, a model which covers the spectrum from
resources to scientific research. Meanwhile, within the key fields of the biotech-
nology industry, such as personnalized medicine, digital healthcare, renewable
energy, agriculture, and marine biology, the CNGB is now making efforts to
build a platform to develop genetic informatics, and then fully promote this
bioindustry innovation in China.

This reflects the great effort that China has made to improve public health
through the latest technologies. On the other hand, China also has a proud
history and legacy of traditional medicine that can be taken advantage of. By

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