About Us: History

The NWGC was founded in 2009, through a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) large-scale DNA sequencing project grant allocated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and co-funded by the National Institutes of Health Director’s Office. It was among the first new, large-scale genome centers focused entirely on medical sequencing to be created in the United States in more than a decade.

In addition to being the largest sequencing center in the Pacific Northwest, we are also proud to have helped develop targeted capture and massively parallel sequencing of human exomes (Ng et al. 2009). This novel method revolutionized exome sequencing at the time. Our center is a leader in NGS using the Illumina sequencing-by-synthesis platform and we participate in many large-scale sequencing projects such as the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program, the Genomics to Elucidate the Genetics of Rare diseases (GREGoR) consortium, and the All of Us Research Program. We also contribute to the Brotman-Baty Institute and the Seattle Flu Study.

Our center has processed more than 500,000 samples, including whole genomes, exomes, RNA sequencing, custom targets, and genotyping arrays. While our center has grown, our commitment to producing innovative methods, the highest quality data, and custom analysis tools has never changed.