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| ToMMo (Tohoku Medical Megabank) | |
|---|---|
| Name | ToMMo (Tohoku Medical Megabank) |
| Type | Biobank; cohort study; research consortium |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founders | Tohoku University; Iwate Medical University |
| Location | Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan |
| Key people | Yoshio Naito; Makoto Yamada; Katsuhiko Ogasawara |
| Focus | Genomic epidemiology; population health; disaster recovery |
ToMMo (Tohoku Medical Megabank) is a Japanese population biobank and cohort initiative established after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami to support genomic, environmental, and clinical research. The program integrates longitudinal cohort recruitment, high-throughput sequencing, and broad data sharing to enable precision medicine studies across Japan and internationally.
The project was launched in response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and was developed by institutions including Tohoku University, Iwate Medical University, Miyagi University of Education, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Early planning involved collaboration with international centers such as the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Broad Institute, and the European Bioinformatics Institute to align standards with initiatives like the 1000 Genomes Project and the UK Biobank. The initiative’s timeline references national recovery efforts associated with the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and regional health surveillance linked to projects supported by the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health. Key milestones include creation of population cohorts, establishment of biorepository infrastructure, release of whole-genome reference panels, and publication in journals connected to the Nature Publishing Group, The Lancet, and Science.
Governance incorporates academic partners such as Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine and clinical centers like Sendai City Hospital alongside administrative oversight tied to Miyagi Prefectural Government agencies and national funders including the Japan Science and Technology Agency. Advisory roles have drawn experts from the International HapMap Project, Human Genome Project, and representatives from the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. Institutional review and ethical frameworks reference standards similar to those of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences and research governance models exemplified by the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission health research programmes. Data access committees include representatives from partner universities, municipal health bureaus, and civic stakeholders such as the Japan Medical Association.
Cohort design comprises the Community-Based Cohort, the Birth and Three-Generation Cohort, and disease-focused subcohorts modeled after designs from Framingham Heart Study, Rotterdam Study, and BioBank Japan. Recruitment targeted residents of Miyagi Prefecture, Iwate Prefecture, and Fukushima Prefecture, with enrollment protocols harmonized with surveys like the National Health and Nutrition Survey (Japan) and international population studies such as NHANES and EPIC. Participant engagement strategies referenced outreach methods used by Kaiser Permanente, All of Us Research Program, and the 100,000 Genomes Project. The birth cohort collaborated with obstetric services at Tohoku University Hospital and municipal maternity clinics across Sendai.
Specimens collected include whole blood, plasma, serum, buffy coat, urine, and DNA, with protocols influenced by biobanks like Kadoorie Biobank, Danish National Biobank, and Estonian Biobank. Genomic resources consist of whole-genome sequencing, SNP arrays, and imputation reference panels analogous to the Haplotype Reference Consortium and Japanese Reference Panel (JG1). Omics datasets span transcriptomics, methylomics, metabolomics, and proteomics following technologies developed at the Broad Institute and EMBL-EBI. Clinical data linkage integrates electronic health records from facilities such as Tohoku University Hospital and local municipal hospitals, aligned with coding systems like ICD-10 and laboratory standards used by Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-type frameworks in Japan.
Analyses have produced population-specific allele frequency catalogs, polygenic risk score evaluations, and genotype-phenotype associations comparable to outputs from UK Biobank, BioBank Japan, and the All of Us Research Program. Findings include characterization of regional genetic structure related to historical demography like migrations associated with Jomon people and comparisons with datasets such as the 1000 Genomes Project and gnomAD. Disease-focused studies addressed cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic disorders, and mental health, with collaborative publications alongside groups at Osaka University, Kyoto University, University of Tokyo, and international teams from the Karolinska Institute, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and University of California, San Francisco. Methodological work contributed imputation reference panels, association pipelines, and resources for pharmacogenomics referencing alleles catalogued by the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium.
Laboratory infrastructure includes high-throughput sequencing platforms from vendors used by Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and mass spectrometry facilities comparable to those at Max Planck Institute. Data centers maintain secure archives with standards similar to European Genome-phenome Archive and cloud collaborations resembling arrangements with Amazon Web Services and national computing centers like the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology for large-scale analyses. Training and capacity building involved exchanges with institutions such as NIH, Wellcome Trust, EMBL, and regional universities including Hokkaido University and Nagoya University.
Ethical frameworks address informed consent, return of results, and data sharing policies drawing on precedents from the Declaration of Helsinki, the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, and guidance from the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. Governance considered privacy protections comparable to those in HIPAA-related discussions and data access models used by dbGaP and the European Genome-phenome Archive. Community engagement and disaster recovery ethics connected to municipal bodies like Sendai City Hall and prefectural health committees, while collaborations with patient advocacy groups paralleled interactions with organizations such as the Japanese Cancer Society and Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Category:Biobanks Category:Medical research in Japan Category:Genomics