The Center for Medical Genetics (CMG) is associated with both the University of Antwerp (UA) and the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA). In total, more than 150 employees (physicians, paramedics, biochemists, biologists, bioinformaticians, engineers, laboratory technicians, administrative staff) work at CMG.
The CMG consists of a consultation unit and laboratories for diagnostics and scientific research. Intensive collaboration between these different units ensures optimal patient care, high-performing and accurate diagnostics, translational research, and innovative research.
- Consultation unit
- Diagnostic laboratory
- Research
In the consultation unit, patients and/or their family members receive genetic advice in a multidisciplinary manner. To do this, we have a team of clinical geneticists, genetic counselors, nurses, and psychologists. Patients can make an appointment on their own initiative or be referred by a physician (general practitioner or specialist), a care institution for people with disabilities, or other (para)medical institutions.
In the diagnostic laboratory, genetic tests are performed such as chromosome analysis, FISH analysis, SNP array analysis, gene panel analysis, exome sequencing, and targeted gene testing. The diagnostic laboratory receives samples from various doctors and hospitals both domestically and internationally. Using gene panels, we can offer rapid and accurate genetic diagnosis for various conditions (aneurysms, arrhythmias, diabetes, hereditary hearing loss, familial breast/ovarian cancer and other hereditary cancers, skeletal dysplasias and growth disorders, dyslipidemias, obesity, cerebral palsy and cerebrovascular disorders, syndromes with cognitive impairment, and neurological disorders such as ataxias, peripheral neuropathies, myopathies, and epilepsy).
For scientific research, CMG has a specialized research laboratory. The research activities are mainly focused on the domains of hereditary hearing loss, obesity, developmental problems with intellectual disability or cerebral palsy, bone and cartilage disorders, cancer, and hereditary heart and vascular diseases. CMG has built a global reputation for this over the past years. Within the University of Antwerp, the team is also recognized as an excellence consortium (GENOMED and TRANSGEN).