The hPOP (Human Personalized Omics Profiling) project is designed to study the variance of molecular markers across a large number of participants. Recent advances in high throughput technologies allow profiling of thousands of analytes within a single experiment. These measurements could potentially be used to diagnose disease early, monitor treatment progression and stratify patient groups to ensure each individual obtains the treatment best suited to their needs. This personalized approach to medicine would include continuous monitoring of thousands of parameters over a whole lifetime. However, in order to be able to interpret such data, we need to have a better understanding of the underlying natural variation of these molecular parameters in health and disease. Only if we know the natural ranges of individual analytes, the expected responses to perturbations and the long-term trends in their levels, can we draw meaningful conclusions from comprehensive personalized profiling.


In this project, we aim to use a multi-omics approach to study the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome of a large number of healthy volunteers. The hPOP project will be launched officially at the 2016 HUPO in Taipei where samples from several hundred people will be collected. The current protocol includes sampling of blood, urine and stool after overnight fasting. Additionally, a detailed questionnaire about food habits, personal health, physical activity and stress levels will be filled out by each participant. All data will be made available to the scientific community under public domain which will allow multiple research groups to use the generated data in their own studies and perform their own analysis of the data.