Annual Conference 2025
Population Genomic Screening – Exploring its Complexities
To be held on Thursday 23rd October 2025 at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
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Genomic Screening is becoming widely used, and in the UK, the genomes of all 500k participants in UK Biobank have been sequenced. The UK also recently started two new initiatives; the ‘Generation Study’ to sequence the genomes of 100k babies, and ‘Our Future Health’ that aims to recruit and collect health data and blood samples on up to 5 million adults, with eventual ‘feedback information about disease risks’.
Several questions arise concerning these studies: 1) at a practical level, e.g. the significance of a particular finding in non-symptomatic people with no family history; 2) on an ethical level, e.g. informed consent and long-term data storage; 3) a financial question, e.g. the true cost to health services beyond the screening process; and 4) the impact of a positive screening result on individuals and families.
This conference will explore examples of programmes that have worked, and those that have not worked. To help provide some understanding of the issues involved, talks will cover historical aspects of screening, new initiatives, ethical considerations, impact of findings on health services and families, implementation of new screening methods, and communication.
Speakers
Professor Richard Houlston
Overview of population screening programmes
Professor Diane B Paul
A historical perspective on the realities of newborn screening
Professor Felicity Boardman
Ethical considerations in screening programmes
Professor David Hunter
The clinical utility of common genetic variation
Professor Aroon Hingorani
Polygenic risk scores in population screening and disease prediction
Dr Philip Ball
Challenges of communicating the complexities of genomic data
Adelphi Lecture:
Dr Margaret McCartney
Challenges of population screening
Register now
Whilst conference admission is free, we are offering an optional sandwich lunch at a nominal cost of £10. If you want to book a lunch please tick the lunch box and we can then issue you with a PayPal invoice which can be paid easily on-line prior to the issue of tickets, you do not need a PayPal account to pay the invoice. Lunch tickets can only be bought at the time of booking a conference ticket. No charge will be made for coffee and tea in the morning and afternoon session breaks. Entrance is strictly by ticket
