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Page 18                  Chu et al. J Transl Genet Genom 2022;6:290-303  https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/jtgg.2022.02


                participants aged 12-17, respectively. (B) Examples of video on HKGP webpage (bilingual subtitles in Traditional Chinese and English).
                (C) Leaflet (available in Traditional Chinese and English). (D) Souvenir.

               Learning opportunities for genomic professionals
               Other than paving the way for the genetic counsellors, HKGP also serves as an important platform to
               provide continuous enrichment to clinicians, laboratory scientists, bioinformaticians, genomic variant
               curators, nurses and trainees. The Project offers experiential learning opportunities to different specialities
               in a collaborative environment.


               One of the challenges of working with various professionals from a multi-disciplinary background is the
               lack of a common language; it is understandable that specialities may use different vocabularies to provide
               descriptions of the same observed phenotype. Hence, HPO has become the standard for phenotype
               exchange in the age of genomic medicine, describing human phenotypes systematically and enabling
                                                                   [29]
               computational inference in genotype-phenotype analyses . It has been used extensively to support
               diagnostic interpretation of genomic variations in rare diseases and adopted by many large-scale genome
                                                                                        [30]
               projects such as the 100,000 Genomes Project and the Undiagnosed Disease Network . In alignment with
               international standards, the HKGP also adopts the use of HPO terms to record clinical features, facilitating
               effective communication amongst professionals of diverse backgrounds.


               Apart from using HPO as the “common language” amongst professionals and the computational analysis
               system, HKGP takes on a multi-disciplinary approach in achieving the project outcomes. Post-analysis
               multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting is one of the core components of the HKGP workflow, allowing
               inputs from relevant specialists to achieve consensus on the genetic diagnosis and patient’s management
               plan. For example, genomic variant curators will work closely with the referring clinicians to determine the
               cases that would require further in-depth discussion in an MDT meeting, where the referring clinician will
               present phenotypes of the participant and the genome variant curators will present the variant finding and
               interpretation.

               Further to providing means of communication for a diverse group of professionals, we hope HKGP serves
               as an active, experiential learning platform to enable members and trainees to appreciate and familiarise the
               integration of genomic medicine into practices.


               CONCLUSION
               HKGI takes on the pioneering role in developing genomic medicine in Hong Kong. Through the launch
               and implementation of HKGP, it aims to overcome the major hurdles of cost and lack of access to WGS in
               the existing services. It provides free-of-charge WGS for individuals and families suffering from the clinical
               odyssey of rare diseases, hereditary cancers, and other undiagnosed diseases. Since HKGP is the first large-
               scale genome project in Hong Kong, it lays the groundwork for developing the infrastructure and workflow
               to prepare for the integration of genomic medicine into routine clinical care in the foreseeable future. It also
               equips the existing workforce, trains the next-generation of genomic experts, and prepares the general
               public for the age of precision medicine.

               With the tight timeline to recruit and analyse an ambitious number of genomes, this is only the beginning
               of a challenging and farsighted mission. To measure the success of the programme, a panel of international
               scientists will evaluate the structure, process and outcome of the HKGP independently. We look forward to
               sharing the evaluation outcome and other progress of the Project as separate publications and case reports.
               With the perseverance, unyielding efforts, and dedication of all the stakeholders, we aim to live up to our
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