The ICGC also announced that new projects in Italy and the European Union will contribute to efforts already underway in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As the UK's arm of the ICGC, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute will decode hundreds of breast cancer genomes as part of the Consortium's international efforts.
Other funded projects will examine more than 10,000 tumours for cancer types that affect organs including blood, brain, breast, colon, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, stomach, oral cavity and ovary.
The paper, by over 200 authors participating in ICGC projects, is published today in the journal Nature. The paper describes how the projects will proceed, outlining the ethical framework, study design and policies. ICGC leaders will also present progress on their projects at the annual conference of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington DC, 17 - 21 April, 2010.