Genome Prairie has announced a $7.2 million investment through Genome Canada and partners to improve health-care delivery and patient outcomes in the Prairie provinces. Over the next four years, researchers will conduct the largest genomics study ever undertaken in the region, analyzing the DNA of more than 3,000 individuals from Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

This ambitious project will place the Prairies at the forefront of cutting-edge medical research and innovation, uncovering life-changing insights into genetic and molecular drivers of disease.

Beyond scientific advancement, PrairieGen aims in the long term to save lives, improve patient outcomes and alleviate pressures on the health-care system through earlier detection and targeted treatments.

Using genomics to drive meaningful impact

Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg

Distinguished professor Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg and Dr. Athanasios Zovoilis from the Max Rady College of Medicine in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba are leading the initiative.

Rockman-Greenberg is a member of the Shared Health Program of Genetics and Metabolism, professor of pediatrics and child health, as well as a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).  Zovoilis is an associate professor of biochemistry and medical genetics, researcher with CHRIM and a senior scientist at the Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute at CancerCare Manitoba.

“This is about using cutting-edge science to make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Rockman-Greenberg. “By studying the genetic makeup of our population, we can identify health risks earlier, tailor treatments to individual patients, and ultimately improve patient care across the Prairie provinces.”

Researchers will not only study DNA, but also analyze how genes interact with lifestyle, environment and other factors. PrairieGen will integrate Manitoba and Saskatchewan data into the Pan-Canadian Genome Library, ensuring the Prairies play a leading role in national and global genomic advancements.

Changing lives through precision medicine

PrairieGen research team

For many families, this research could lead to life-changing medical advances in the long term. By identifying genetic markers linked to diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and metabolic disorders, the project will help doctors provide earlier diagnoses and more targeted treatments.

“Imagine a future where a simple genetic test can tell someone if they are at risk for a serious illness – before they even show symptoms,” said Rockman-Greenberg. “That knowledge can empower patients to take preventive action, and it allows doctors to intervene earlier with more effective treatments.”

Children with rare genetic conditions, individuals with a family history of chronic illness, and many other Prairie residents will benefit from PrairieGen’s discoveries. By creating a secure, ethically governed genomics data source, the initiative will also provide a critical foundation for future research, clinical applications and data-driven health-care policies.

Strengthening local research and innovation

Beyond the promise of long-term patient benefits, PrairieGen is strengthening Manitoba’s leadership position in national and global genomic and bioinformatics research. The initiative will enhance sequencing and bioinformatics infrastructure at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences (RFHS) and CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB).

The project implementation will take place at the Statistical Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Platform (SGB) at RFHS and at the Bioinformatics Core Platform at CCMB, ensuring that the province remains competitive in the rapidly evolving field of precision medicine and AI-driven health-care innovation.

Dr. Athan Zovoilis

Zovoilis, project co-lead and director and co-director of the CCMB Bioinformatics Core and SGB, respectively, sees PrairieGen as a transformative step in building capacity in bioinformatics, AI-driven genomic tools and precision medicine in the province.

“We’re not just conducting research – we’re building a lasting resource and capacity in Manitoba that will help doctors and scientists improve health care for generations to come,” said Zovoilis. “The insights we gain today will shape the treatments of the future and put Manitoba at the epicentre of next-generation sequencing technologies and AI-driven genomic medicine.”

A future shaped by precision medicine

PrairieGen represents a shift toward a more personalized, proactive health-care system. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, doctors will increasingly be able to tailor treatments to individual patients based on their unique genetic profiles. This not only improves patient outcomes but also reduces health-care costs by minimizing ineffective treatments and hospital visits.

“AI-driven tools for genomics is the future of medicine,” said Zovoilis. “With PrairieGen, we will be supporting the development of such tools and bringing that future to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, ensuring that our communities benefit from the latest scientific breakthroughs available.”

“My lab applies what we call next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics to magnify the impact of recent advances in AI algorithms. We collaborate with researchers across the country to position Canada at the forefront of this important new field of study,” says Dr. Athanasios Zovoilis, associate professor of biochemistry and medical genetics in the Max Rady College of Medicine.

Each day, researchers employing next-generation sequencing identify important clues in the non-coding segments of our DNA, once referred to as “junk DNA.” These segments contain clues about the presence of diseases. This breakthrough by the Zovoilis team seeks to repurpose lab equipment originally designed to read only mRNA, the coded sections of genetic material, to also study the non-coding segments of our DNA, called non-coding RNAs.

“The right equipment for this new field of study has been in our lab for some time, but we lacked the tools to use it to its fullest potential, until now,” says Zovoilis. “The impact of employing AI and novel genomics approaches is that researchers across the world can now leverage next-generation sequencing in the new field of epitranscriptomics, exploring the genetic interactions of non-coding RNAs.”

For the past two decades, researchers around the world have used precision tools to sift through non-coding RNAs and pinpoint the roughly three per cent of coded sequences. As part of the Canadian Epitranscriptomics Project, Zovoilis is mobilizing this technology to create the “Epitranscriptome Atlas” to fill in the missing 97 per cent of our genome and advance understanding of how changes in non-coding RNAs can cause disease.

“If we imagine the human genome as an atlas of the earth, with each gene represented by one satellite image, we have so far revealed fewer than 36,000 of the necessary 1.2 million images to complete our atlas. The mapped RNA sequences represent specific human tissues, and we are now able to begin filling in large sections of our atlas to pinpoint the genomic locations of diseases and other important biological functions for the first time.”

Dr. Athan Zovoilis directs a bioinformatics research program at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and CancerCare Manitoba’s Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute.