Anyone who is a patient or family member of a GIC site can participate in the GIC – whether they are healthy or ill, or a child or an adult. Participation at each biobank is free, completely voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time. Your decision about whether or not to participate will not affect the care you or your child receives from your hospital. If you are interested in learning about how to participate, please contact your hospital’s biobank.
For patients who are not connected to a hospital that is a member of the GIC, you can ask your physician to contact us to determine if your physician’s hospital is eligible for membership.
The GIC is the only data commons that includes pediatric genomic data with clinical data at this scale, which is very important to make research discoveries.
Yes. Visit our list of research projects and view our publications.
Patients and families are very important to the GIC. The GIC has set up a Patient Advisory Panel (PAP), a diverse panel of patients and parents of patients of GIC sites. The GIC meets monthly with the PAP to provide updates on GIC activities. The PAP serves as a forum to incorporate the patient and family perspectives into our activities to ensure that our work remains patient-centered.
Genetic and genomic research help us bring about improved treatments and cures for diseases. This type of research studies a person’s complete DNA set, including all of their genes. Gaining a better understanding of cells and genes allows researchers to understand how they bring about health or illness in our bodies.
For more information on definitions of terms related to data, research and the work of the GIC, view our glossary of terms.