£10m Olympics science plan
A £10m "phenome" science research centre is to be set up on the site of the Olympics drug-testing laboratories, the Prime Minister has announced.
The centre, in Harlow, Essex, will will seek a better understanding of physical characteristics such as hair and eye colour, and diseases such as diabetes.
Speaking at the Global Health Policy Summit in London today, he said: "When the games close, all this incredible equipment and expertise will be used to establish a new Phenome Centre for research into biological markers of health and disease.
"This will take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities that lie in combining genetic data with the results of medical tests on tissues and blood. It will allow us to understand the characteristics of disease and how these link into genes and our environment.
"It’s an impressive example of collaboration between top-class research, the NHS and industry. It will produce new forms of drugs - and it will lead the world in the development of precision medicine."