The genomics revolution has lead to an exponential increase in health data generation. More recently, our capacity to ‘phenotype’ or measure the functional properties that manifest from the genotype has developed to a similar scale.

Using robotic, automated platforms, we can now measure the phenotype of many hundreds of thousands of cells, from hundreds of individuals. The first integrated cell phenotyping facility of this kind in Australia was recently opened at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute with a focus on gathering data from heart cells derived from stem cells of patients with inherited heart diseases. This technological progress means that we can now generate parallel genetic and phenotypic datasets that when interpreted together, present enormous opportunity to answer questions about disease processes as well as define inter-individual variation in drug responses. To maximise impact, we need to build a central data resource that brings together genomic and phenotypic data from research labs across Australia that work on diverse systems – including cells, bioengineered and isolated tissue, and other model organisms. No current equivalent combined dataset exists in the world, making this a unique resource that plays on Australia’s strengths in these disciplines.