Beijing Genomics Institute (Shenzhen) inaugurated on February 10, 2012 its European center at the Bioscience Park in Copenhagen. Jointly funded by Beijing Genomics Institute (Shenzhen), the Danish National High Technology Foundation, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark University of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, and Aalborg University with an amount of 170 million Danish kroner, or RMB 190 million, the center will be built on an area of 1,200 square meters, equipped with 10 sets of second-generation high-throughput gene sequencing machines. The center is staged for the collaborations in the coming three years between European and Chinese research institutes in the field of genetics, including a national genome project and a cancer etiology project initiated by Denmark.
The center will provide world-class expertise and infrastructures for genomics, proteomics, and bio-informatics research activities in Europe, promoting the collaboration between BGS and Danish research institutes on an advanced platform that will also benefit scientific collaborations between China and Europe.
The center will mainly work on two major projects in the near future: 1) new viruses identification, and patented commercial vaccines; and 2) establish a genetic variation database, including the Danish population, laying a groundwork for studying the genetic part of common diseases.