The UK will create the world’s first real-time surveillance system to monitor the threat of infectious diseases and rapidly diagnose cancer, the government has announced.

A new partnership has been formed between the UK government, Genomics England, UK Biobank, NHS England and life sciences company Oxford Nanopore, which was founded in 2005 as a spinout from Oxford University.

Oxford Nanopore uses long-read sequencing technology to analyse genes and pathogens to rapidly diagnose a range of cancers, along with rare and infectious diseases.

The technology can sequence long strands of DNA or RNA in one go, without breaking it up into smaller fragments.

The aim is for Oxford Nanopore’s technology to help create an early warning system for future pandemics and potential biological threats.

Developed in partnership with the NHS, the technology will be used in the expansion of NHS England’s respiratory metagenomics programme, being led by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

It uses samples...