50 Helminth Genomes Initiative. 50 Helminth Genomes Initiative

This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/ Despite their importance globally, both medically and economically, parasitic helminth (worm) research has remained relatively untouched by genomics. Worm infections account for morbidity equivalent to more than 100 million disability-adjusted life years from more than one billion infections globally. The 50 Helminth Genomes Initiative is collaborative project that aims to survey the genomes of nematodes and platyhelminths that are either of medical or veterinary importance, or as used as models for those. It will include all the neglected metazoan parasites. Preliminary illumina sequencing from these helminth species will be used to produce draft genomic assemblies which will create a unique genomic resource.