The Luxembourg National Data Service (LNDS) recently announced the launch of the Genome of Europe – EU's largest genome project in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Described as the most extensive EU-funded programme on population genomics to date, "Genome of Europe" (GoE) officially launched in Rotterdam in October 2024.

During the next 42 months, this groundbreaking initiative is set to establish a unique pan-European reference database of at least 100,000 genomes, representative of the diverse national populations of European citizens – all for the benefit of personalised healthcare.

The reference database will integrate existing genomic datasets and new genomic data through de novo sequencing of distinct national populations. The project encompasses 49 partners across 27 European countries and is backed by €45 million in funding, with €20 million coming from the EU under the Digital Europe Programme by the European Commission.

LNDS will partner with the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) within this European initiative, highlighting Luxembourg's commitment to genomic research and healthcare innovation.

While the LIH will contribute to the sequencing effort, bringing in Luxembourgish cohorts, the LNDS will contribute to defining ethical, legal and societal conditions for generating the reference genome, ensuring data security, and embedding GoE data within the Digital Europe Programme-funded Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI).

Bert Verdonck, CEO at LNDS, explained: "LNDS leads the work package focused on the Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues (ELSI). Together with our international partners, we aim to address the ELSI topics around data collection, data governance and lawful reuse in research, healthcare and policy making."

Key goals of the GoE initiative include:

 - Creating a Pan-European Community of Practice by establishing a collaborative community to support the reference genome project;

- Evaluating the long-term potential of genome sequencing in research and health care in Europe and beyond, including different sequencing technologies, such as long read sequencing, helping to uncover previously inaccessible "dark regions" of the genome;

- The project will be guided by ethical, legal, and societal considerations while upholding stringent data security standards, building (inter)national guidelines for the responsible use of WGS that leads to better healthcare for EU citizens;

- Integrating GoE data into the previously funded Digital Europe Programme's Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI) project, ensuring interoperability across initiatives;

- Assessing GoE's impact and usability through case studies that evaluate the project's contributions to understanding genetic diversity, enabling multi-ancestry imputation, and enhancing genetic risk profiling.