China National GeneBank officially opened in Shenzhen yesterday, with the aim of promoting human health research and conserving global bio-diversity.

Initiated by China’s National Development and Reform Commission in 2011, the project was established by Shenzhen-based BGI, one of the world’s leading genomics organizations.

The bank has saved more than 10 million bio-samples and established cooperation and research with over 100 organizations in areas such as human health, bio-diversity and biological evolution.

Wang Jian, BGI’s president, said the bank’s mission is to “preserve the essence of a billion years of evolutionary history and deposit the life foundations of billions of people.”

Mei Yonghong, the bank’s director, said it was not only a database, but combined a bio-information bank, a bio-samples and genetic resources bank, and a living resources bank of plant, animal and microbe species.

“Generally speaking, we collect biological resources in the world, read the genetic data of living things with sequencers, use super computers to obtain the results and write the gene code on the synthesis and editing platform,” Mei said.

Xu Xun, the bank’s executive director, said: “Stored human cells may help cure many diseases in the future, with the improvement of medical technology.”

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