3 researchers in lab

The Asmarley Centre for Genomic Medicine (incorporated with the Genomic Medicine section) is within the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. The strategic plan of the Centre is to use generous funding from The Asmarley Trust to bring state of the art genomic technology and expertise to the study of lung diseases. A major effort will be through supporting recruitment, fellowships and studentships for the brightest young scientists and clinicians who want to make a difference to lung disease.

The Centre scientists are recognised internationally for their extensive expertise in human molecular genetics and genomics, including large-scale studies of asthma, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, lung and pleural cancer, and sequence-based studies of the lung microbiome. They use high throughput genomic and systems biology approaches encompassing NextGen Sequencing of exomes, genomes and transcriptomes (RNA-Seq), transcriptome and pathway analyses, global methylation studies, metabolomics and metagenomics.  

Past achievements include a landmark GWAS for asthma, the first analysis of the psoriasis transcriptome, development of target genomic capture (leading to exome sequencing), identification of the first metastatic cancer gene, the application of genomics to regenerative epithelia, and leading studies of the airway microbiome.  Although small, the section publishes regularly in leading journals that include Nature, Nature Genetics and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Our innovative programs include:

  • the systematic culture and sequencing of normal and pathogenic bacteria in the lung
  • basic and translational research into eosinophilic lung diseases, including severe asthma
  • basic and translational research into the infective causes of interstitial lung diseases, including sarcoidosis
  • basic and translational research into the genomics of lung cancer, with a focus on patients with advanced disease
  • the development of novel genomic technologies, including DNA and RNA sequencing from single cells

Our people

Bill Cookson

 Asmarley Centre Director - Prof William Cookson

miriam moffatt

 Asmarley Centre Section Head - Prof Miriam Moffat
Summary of the table's contents

Principal Investigators: Prof Anne Bowcock, Prof William Cookson, Prof Michael Lovett and Prof Miriam Moffatt
Lecturers: Dr Youming Zhang and Dr Deborah Morris-Rosendahl
Senior Fellow: Dr Mike Cox

Dr Mark Lathrop (Director of the McGill Genome Centre) is an associate PI.