Tag Archives: Veritas Genetics

2018: Population Studies, Immunotherapy, CRISPR, Genomic Medicine,…2019

Posted on by

2018 was full of significant developments in the life sciences, precision medicine, genetics, and genomics sector. Highlights and notable news included various technological advancements, new clinical applications of next-generation sequencing, success in population studies, genetics moving into the clinic, artificial intelligence and machine learning investments and potentials, immunotherapy further establishing itself as the leading weapon to attack cancer, the CRISPR technology being under fire, and more.

The significance of these developments is further manifested by clinical omics taking shape, hospitals adopting new applications, and testing and treatments coming into play that are based on next-generation sequencing or omics data. The results speak a clear language: improved diagnostic tests, and more precise therapeutics.

Here a few highlights – not an all-inclusive summary – of what made 2018 so exciting. Find a more complete list of 2018 news on the enlightenbio Industry News site.

Population studies taking shape

Various population studies/initiatives took shape this year, as demonstrated with projects such as…

Continue reading →

Nebula Genomics’ Goal Is To Make The Value of Genome Sequencing a Reality

Posted on by

This month’s “Company Spotlight” provides a closer look at Nebula Genomics, a human genome sequencing and health big data company on a mission to usher in the era of genomic sequencing by building a large and trusted genomic and health data marketplace for consumers, researchers and the medical community.

Kamal Obbad, CEO and cofounder of Nebula Genomics discussed Nebula Genomics’ marketplace, the need their platform is addressing, and where the future of genomics data sharing and access will lead to.

Nebula Genomics is using blockchain to ensure that consumers maintain control of their data and are compensated for its use, so that the Nebula marketplace will aggregate a critical mass of rich genetic information that researchers can analyze in order to accelerate drug development, streamline clinical trials, and usher in the era of truly personalized medicine. The eight-person company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and was founded in 2017 by Harvard Genomics pioneer George Church, along with Harvard researchers Dennis Grishin and Kamal Obbad. Nebula Genomics has recently secured $4.3M in funding from leading venture capital firms including Khosla Ventures, Mayfield and Arch Ventures. The funds will support the company’s mission to usher in the era of personal genome sequencing by creating a trusted, secure, and decentralized marketplace for genomic data. Nebula has also forged a partnership with Veritas Genetics, the leading whole genome sequencing and interpretation company, that will connect the Nebula marketplace to Veritas’ Arvados open-source software platform.

The following summarizes questions and answers from my dialogue with Kamal Obbad.

EB: Tell us more about Nebula Genomics – What scientific and business needs are you trying to address and what products/services do you offer? Blockchain is a critical component of Nebula Genomics – can you explain exactly how you apply this technology to your services?

Kamal Obbad: One of the main issues researchers and the pharma industry are facing today is access to large scale genomics data. The data as it exists today is very fragmented. It is generated in many different labs, by both nonprofit and for-profit Continue reading →

Now Available: Individual Clinical NGS Process Report Chapters

Posted on by

We are currently offering the individual chapters and the full report at a 10% discount with promo code 10OFFCLINNGSNOW.

The recently released Clinical NGS Process Report – released January 12, 2018 – details the observations and learnings across the complex, multi-step informatics aspects following clinical NGS sample preparation and sequencing, and which includes data analysis, knowledge extraction, and clinical reporting of actionable findings.

You spoke – we listened: To make this report more accessible to individuals that only have an interest in a section we are now providing access to individual chapters. The following chapters are now available for separate purchase:

  1. Clinical End-User Feedback
    1. Conducted a series of end-user interviews to understand clinical needs, testing lab preferences, and challenges when receiving clinical variant data and communicating findings to the physician and the patient.
  2. Clinical NGS Market Trends
    1. NGS adoption challenges.
    2. Innovations and technology trends impacting clinical NGS applications.
    3. Mergers and acquisitions impacting clinical NGS.
  3. Ten Years of NGS Patents
    1. Studied the last ten years of NGS assignees across all NGS patent families, number of patents of leading commercial companies, and clinical-grade genetic/diagnostic testing providers.
    2. Top patent assignees across all NGS patent families.
    3. Contributed by our partner company Pramoedya Biointelligence.
  4. Clinical NGS Projects/Initiatives
    1. Detailed review of 38 global human genome-based initiatives.
  5. The Clinical NGS Data Analysis & Interpretation Ecosystem
    1. Evaluated 26 key commercial software and platform providers that offer a clinical NGS analysis or interpretation solution, to understand their product focus and offered capabilities, their strategy to address end-user needs, and more.
  6. Company/Product Profiles
    1. Reviewed 26 key companies with comprehensive solutions across the entire Clinical NGS Workflow, including genetic testing/diagnostics service providers their product focus, offered capabilities, and their strategy to address end-user needs, and more.

Continue reading →

Just Released – Our New Clinical NGS Process Report

Posted on by

Palo Alto, CA, January 12, 2018 – enlightenbio LLC, today announced the publication of its Clinical NGS Process Report. This new report details the observations and learnings across the complex, multi-step informatics aspects following clinical NGS sample preparation and sequencing, and which includes data analysis, knowledge extraction, and clinical reporting of actionable findings. Market trends, including listing of major initiatives, merger and acquisitions, and a summary of patents are detailed within this report, while also highlighted are clinical customer/end-users’ unmet interpretation and knowledge extraction needs and challenges, and genetic testing lab preferences. Finally, an extensive comparison of solution providers in the SaaS and PaaS sector for the analysis and interpretation of clinical NGS data is included. The report is unique, in that it is not a predictive market research report, but rather builds on data gathered from many end-user interviews combined with an extensive analysis of the clinical NGS sector.

While this report does not intend to provide direct recommendations on commercial offerings, the deep-dive analysis is an insightful review to help clinicians, researchers, commercial entities, and investors choose the best partner for success.

For a limited time only, apply Promo Code 10OFFCLINICALNGS and get 10% off when purchasing the report – valid until February 14, 2018.

Download Table of Contents to learn more about the report specifics Continue reading →

Can 2017 top 2016?

Posted on by

In the life sciences, 2016 brought us many significant developments, and thank goodness, it’s mostly exciting and great to talk about those in length. I am talking here about technological advancements, the many new applications next-generation sequencing is seeing, genetics moving into the clinic, precision medicine finding its mark in oncology and beyond, immunotherapy establishing itself as the leading weapon to attack cancer, and more.

The significance of these developments is further manifested with clinical omics taking shape, hospitals adopting new applications, and testing and treatments that are based on next-generation sequencing, omics data, and more. The results speak a clear language: improved diagnostic tests, and more precise therapeutics.

Here a few highlights – not an all-inclusive summary – of what made 2016 so exciting.

2016

Next-generation sequencing matures

In 2016, we’ve reached a stage where the limitations of next-generation sequencing is not at the level of sequence data generation anymore, rather the limitations are associated Continue reading →

2015 – A Year of Health Initiatives, Commercial Milestones, Company Acquisitions, and Scientific Achievements

Posted on by

2015 was a fast moving and busy year in the many fields of science, next-generation sequencing, diagnostics, and of course precision medicine. A lot can be attributed to technological advancements particularly in next-generation sequencing which has shaped where we are today. Resulting applications are growing, building on major research findings, evident in the clinic and in industry achievements in areas of aging, obesity, the precision medicine initiative, diagnostics, the $1,000 genome, liquid biopsy, NIPT, new approaches towards breast cancer treatment, and much more.

PMiUnprecedented press clearly went to the purposeful Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) with its launch at the State of the Union address by the President in early 2015. Since then this year has brought us a flurry of activities related to this prominent initiative: building an advisory committee to the NIH Director (ACD), the creation and approval of the ACD’s working group report, the announcement of initial funding opportunities, the
White House addressing and releasing Privacy and Trust Principles, the announcement of the 2016 budget, and last but not least the launch of the precisionFDA community platform at the end of the year.

Companies have reached new milestones. 23andMe, with a $1 Billion evaluation, has entered the drug discovery arena via building its own unit and large pharmaceutical collaborations that will mine their massive customer DNA database (>800,000). The Continue reading →