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Liège, October 5, 2023 – Following the call 37 launched by BioWin, the Gloria project is the result of a consortium between the coordinating company Eonix, in partnership with two other companies, Comunicare Solutions and Kedroz, and the universities UCLouvain and UMons.

Eonix, Comunicare Solutions, Kedroz, UCLouvain and UMons, working together as a consortium, have been granted EUR 3.2 million in funding from Wallonia as part of a call for projects launched by BioWin, the health cluster of Wallonia. Their project, Gloria (Global Rapid and Innovative DNA Analysis), set to run for 48 months with a total budget of 4.2 million euros, aims to develop a secure platform to enable citizens to store their digital DNA, opening the door to advanced analyses of complex common diseases and certain rare diseases.

Today, the emergence of genetic tests and falling costs make it possible to inform anyone about their propensity to develop a pathology, as well as the means of reducing the probability of its occurrence (primary prevention), its extent (secondary prevention) and the most effective treatments. However, a growing number of genetic tests are ordered directly over the Internet, and studies show an increase in tests carried out by Europeans on platforms located outside Europe. The quality of these online tests is questionable, and without a secure framework, there is a real risk that parallel and recreational medicine will develop, without the supervision of health professionals.

The project called “GLORIA – Global Rapid and Innovative DNA Analysis” emerged from collaborations between healthcare experts who share the vision to develop patient-centered solutions for the benefit of personalised medicine. Their mutual ambition is to create the first European platform to provide citizens with a secure vault in which to store their digital DNA, enabling analyses to be carried out using computer-based risk profiling tools for complex common diseases and certain rare diseases.

Such a platform based in Wallonia is in line with the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) and more particularly with the roadmap of the Strategic Innovation Domain (DIS2 ), “Innovations for enhanced health” set up by the Walloon government and the Strategic Innovations Initiative (IIS) MedReSyst.

The consortium is delighted with this upcoming technology: “The funding will enable the creation of a new company at the end of the project, as well as maintaining around 40 direct and indirect jobs in Wallonia. What’s more, thanks to a business model that is independent of reimbursements from regional or national social security systems, this project will facilitate rapid international deployment.