An estimated 75,000 patients will be invited to donate their DNA for research into causes of rare diseases and cancers

The NHS has named the first 11 hospital trusts that will map DNA on a scale never before attempted by sequencing the genomes of tens of thousands of patients, in a project that promises to transform the understanding of cancer and rare diseases.

As part of the three-year initiative, an estimated 75,000 people will be invited to donate their DNA for research and in return could benefit from faster diagnosis of rare and inherited diseases and better-targeted treatment for cancer.

The project was launched by David Cameron in the summer. By the end of the project about 100 other NHS trusts will be involved.

Patients’ genomes will be sequenced for analysis and the anonymised data will be made available to pharmaceutical companies which will be able to develop personalised drugs for specific genetic variants.

It is expected that about 15,000 families with rare diseases will take part. Relatives’ genomes will be compared in the hope of identifying the differences in genomic code that are thought to be behind rare diseases and cancers.

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, said the project could help “unlock longstanding mysteries of disease on behalf of humankind”. “Embracing genomics will position us at the forefront of science and make the NHS the most scientifically advanced healthcare system in the world. This is the start of a unique, exciting journey that will bring benefits for patients, for the NHS and for society at large.”

The 11 hospital trusts are:

• Cambridge University

• Guy’s and St Thomas’s

• Liverpool Women’s

• Central Manchester University

• Great Ormond Street

• Newcastle upon Tyne

• Oxford University

• Royal Devon and Exeter

• University Hospital Southampton

• Imperial College Healthcare

• University Hospitals Birmingham