UK human iPS cell consortium: genotype to phenotype.

We will exploit the opportunities of the UK National Health Service to generate a national resource of human iPS cells and associated data. We will generate and bank lines from 700 healthy and 800 disease-associated individuals, optimising techniques for iPS cell production and quality control. Cells will be subjected to extensive analysis of genome, epigenome, gene expression and proteome. For cells from healthy individuals, in-depth analysis of inter-individual variability will provide an open access platform for association studies of cellular function, and for distinguishing pathological from physiological variation. Patient collections will be selected via an open call, focusing initially on well-characterised conditions, where a single genetic lesion underlies a pleiotropic clinical phenotype. To characterise cellular phenotype we will construct high throughput artificial microenvironments. We will evaluate cell death, differentiation, morphology and division and specific signall ing pathways. We will collaborate to produce protocols to differentiate iPS cells into disease-relevant cell types. These approaches will provide in vitro readouts of inter-individual variation and disease and a platform for gene correction and engineering specific mutations into different genetic backgrounds. Our proposal will give researchers in the UK and beyond access to iPS cells and technology linked to extensive genetic, cellular and clinical information.