{{Short description|American study into severe genetic disorders}} {{about|the project identify protective factors against disease|other projects|Resilience (disambiguation)}} '''The Resilience Project''' is a project, undertaken by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in collaboration with Sage Bionetworks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://resilienceproject.com/|title=The Resilience Project|website=resilienceproject.com|accessdate=14 April 2020}}</ref>

==Overview== The project seeks to identify protective factors against disease through collaboration with people who have significant risk factors for disease that nevertheless do not manifest typical signs and symptoms. In a pilot study, big data was used to identify individuals with apparent resistance to severe genetic disease.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21696687-study-finds-rare-individuals-resistant-inherited-fatal-diseases-genetic|title=Genetic superheroes|newspaper=The Economist|date=16 April 2016|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160411134321.htm|title=Analysis of nearly 600,000 genomes for resilience project|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/news-and-events/icahn-in-the-news/the-atlantic-may-29|title=The Search for Genes That Prevent Disease - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai|website=Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref>

This approach may seem weird, since the gene that is known to cause a genetic disorder could also be dealt with (head on) by just using overwriting the genetic code of this faulty gene with "good code" using gene therapy.

However, there is never just one version of "good code" (even people that do not have a disorder, the gene that is otherwise known to cause the defect can be present with different code). So rather than having to deal with these problems, Stephen Friend decided to use a workaround method (which consists of the approach noted above).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/04/19/genetic-superheroes-exist-media-overhype-resilience-project/|title=Do 'genetic superheroes' exist? Or did media overhype Resilience Project?|date=19 April 2016|accessdate=21 August 2017|author-first1=Nicholas|author-last1=Staropoli|publisher=Genetic Literacy Project}}</ref>

==Diseases== Initially, the diseases the project looked at were 170 severe, Mendelian, disorders.<ref name="Warren">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/10/eric-schadt-biodata-genomics-medical-research/|title=The Cure for Cancer Is Data—Mountains of Data|first=Mark|last=Warren|magazine=Wired|date=19 October 2016|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref> However, the genetic data gathered from 600,000 people was not enough<ref>{{cite web|url=https://geneticexperts.org/search-of-over-500000-genomes-yields-thirteen-individuals-apparently-resistant-to-severe-genetic-diseases/|title=Search of over 500,000 genomes yields thirteen individuals apparently resistant to severe genetic diseases - GENeS|work=GENeS |date=11 April 2016|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref>{{efn|These 600,000 people were not people known to have one of the 170 diseases mentioned. Rather they were everyday people that in some cases carried a gene known to cause a disease, but didn't know they carried it themselves.}}(only resilient individuals of 8 of the targeted diseases were found). The list of diseases it know look at is the following:<ref>{{cite journal|title=Analysis of 589,306 genomes identifies individuals resilient to severe Mendelian childhood diseases|first1=Rong|last1=Chen|first2=Lisong|last2=Shi|first3=Jörg|last3=Hakenberg|first4=Brian|last4=Naughton|first5=Pamela|last5=Sklar|first6=Jianguo|last6=Zhang|first7=Hanlin|last7=Zhou|first8=Lifeng|last8=Tian|first9=Om|last9=Prakash|first10=Mathieu|last10=Lemire|first11=Patrick|last11=Sleiman|first12=Wei-yi|last12=Cheng|first13=Wanting|last13=Chen|first14=Hardik|last14=Shah|first15=Yulan|last15=Shen|first16=Menachem|last16=Fromer|first17=Larsson|last17=Omberg|first18=Matthew A.|last18=Deardorff|first19=Elaine|last19=Zackai|author-link19=Elaine Zackai|first20=Jason R.|last20=Bobe|first21=Elissa|last21=Levin|first22=Thomas J.|last22=Hudson|first23=Leif|last23=Groop|first24=Jun|last24=Wang|first25=Hakon|last25=Hakonarson|first26=Anne|last26=Wojcicki|first27=George A.|last27=Diaz|first28=Lisa|last28=Edelmann|first29=Eric E.|last29=Schadt|first30=Stephen H.|last30=Friend|date=1 May 2016|journal=Nature Biotechnology|volume=34|issue=5|pages=531–538|doi=10.1038/nbt.3514|pmid=27065010|doi-access=free}}</ref> * Cystic fibrosis * Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome * Familial dysautonomia * Epidermolysis Bullosa simplex * Pfeiffer syndrome * Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APECED) * Acampomelic campomelic dysplasia * Atelosteogenesis

==Data== DNA sequences from 589,306 people were used, obtained from 23andMe, Beijing Genomics Institute, Broad Institute and others.<ref name="Warren"/>

==Criticism== Critics have argued that the researchers could not contact any of people to positively ensure that they were indeed healthy, despite having the disease mutation. Human geneticist Daniel MacArthur of the Centre for Population Genomics (then working at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts) still regards the study as “important as a proof-of-principle”.<ref>{{cite journal|title=News Feature: Genetic mutations you want|first=Sarah C. P.|last=Williams|date=8 March 2016|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=113|issue=10|pages=2554–2557|doi=10.1073/pnas.1601663113|pmid=26957571|pmc=4791022|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.2554W|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="sciencemag.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/buffer-genes-may-protect-these-13-people-rare-genetic-diseases|title='Buffer genes' may protect these 13 people from rare genetic diseases|date=11 April 2016|accessdate=21 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Our Leaders |url=https://populationgenomics.org.au/our-leaders/ |website=populationgenomics.org.au |publisher=Centre for Population Genomics |access-date=15 August 2025}}</ref>

In response to this criticism, Friend and Schadt have modified their Resilience Project by inviting new volunteers who agree to be recontacted to participate through a website<ref name="sciencemag.org"/>

==Participatory Study== In April 2020, the Resilience Project launched a participatory research study open to individuals in the USA.

<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2020/mount-sinai-launches-app-and-first-campaign-of-the-resilience-project-to-develop-new-treatments-and-preventive-care-for-diseases-pr|title=Mount Sinai Launches App and First Campaign of The Resilience Project to Develop New Treatments and Preventive Care for Diseases|website=Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai|accessdate=14 April 2020}}</ref>

==Similar projects== * [https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/the-100000-genomes-project/ The 100000 Genomes Project] * [https://www.science.org/content/article/blueprint-hand-nih-embarks-study-million-people U.S. Precision Medicine Initiative's 1 million person cohort study]

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Resilience Project, The}} Category:Applied genetics Category:Big data Category:Databases in the United States Category:Medical genetics Category:Technology forecasting