The Human Phenotype Project

Recent technological advances allow large cohorts of human individuals to be profiled, presenting many challenges and opportunities. I will present The Human Phenotype Project, a large-scale (more than 10,000 participants) deep-phenotype prospective longitudinal cohort and biobank that we established, aimed at identifying novel molecular markers with diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value, and at developing prediction models for disease onset and progression. Our deep profiling includes medical history, lifestyle and nutritional habits, vital signs, anthropometrics, blood tests, continuous glucose and sleep monitoring, and molecular profiling of the transcriptome, genetics, gut and oral microbiome, metabolome and immune system. We are also in the process of establishing similar cohorts in other geographical locations and ethnic groups. Our analyses of this data provide novel insights into potential drivers of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, and identify hundreds of novel markers at the microbiome, metabolite, and immune system level. Overall, our predictive models can be translated into personalized disease prevention and treatment plans, and to the development of new therapeutic modalities based on metabolites and the microbiome.