Author Archives: Jennifer Dankoff

About Jennifer Dankoff

Jennifer has been a FAS with Golden Helix since September 2021. She has a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Montana State University, and is passionate about working with customers to fulfill their NGS analysis needs. When she isn't working with customers or writing blogs, Jennifer can be found hiking in the mountains or playing softball.

Food Allergy Alleles, Right in Time for Thanksgiving!

         November 21, 2023

The table is set, the football game is on in the background, and the family has gathered around the table when out of nowhere, your Cousin Eddie shows up for Thanksgiving dinner. While Cousin Eddie is known for eating anything, his allergies always get the best of him, ruining the evening. Thankfully, this year Cousin Eddie had recently gotten his… Read more »

Evolution of Multi-Allelic Calls in VarSeq: Before and After Version 2.5.0

         November 9, 2023

It may come as a surprise to our long-standing users that the multi-allelic import and representation in VarSeq is slated to have different import options with the 2.5.0 upgrade. As the software grows and evolves, we strive to meet the changing needs of our users, and this is one area where an update was sorely needed. Before going into an… Read more »

Using Compute Functions to Validate Variant Assessments

         September 26, 2023

Recently, a Golden Helix customer reached out to support for advice on how to validate the variant scoring between two different VarSeq users. Here we break down one possible solution as an opportunity to showcase the utility of both the Latest Sample Assessment function and an alternative way to leverage the Compute Fields function. To set up this validation project,… Read more »

Accessing Report Templates and Simple Modifications

         September 18, 2023

Your variants of interest have been identified, the SVs annotated, and the CNVs classified. Once the manifest has been imported (and here is a great blog on the subject), the last step is to bring all of this information into a report template! In this blog, we will go over some simple report modifications and provide resources for more information… Read more »

Using Text Manifests to Load in Sample Patient Information

         August 3, 2023

The ability to import patient-level information into VarSeq and VSClinical can not only save time while evaluating a sample but can be a critical step in automating project creation through VSPipeline. Here we will review how to construct a basic text manifest and how to apply that manifest to a project. Those fields can then be rendered into the final… Read more »

Moving the AppData folder- a look at sharing assessment catalogs

         July 3, 2023

Discover how to enhance collaboration in VSClinical by sharing variant scores and assessment catalogs through the strategic relocation of the AppData folder. A subtle but powerful utility of VSClinical concerns the ability to share variant scores between users on the same account. What I mean by that is, leveraging the location of the AppData folder, so that users are writing… Read more »

Data Viewing with VarSeq: Plotting Tracks!

         June 26, 2023

In recent weeks, GenomeBrowse capabilities have had a sudden resurgence of interest among our customers. To support this, the FAS team wanted to share with you several under-utilized GenomeBrowse plotting tricks. First, let’s cover plotting a BED file for easy track viewing. The first step is launching a GenomeBrowse window by clicking the + button and selecting GenomeBrowse (Figure 1)… Read more »

Transitioning to Broad-Scale Genomics: From Gene Panels to Whole Genome Sequencing

         May 16, 2023

Explore the evolving landscape of genomic analysis, transitioning from targeted gene panels to whole genome sequencing. A recent trend with our customers has been to expand their workflows from small panel sequencing analyses to larger whole exome and genome sequencing analyses. The decreasing cost of sequencing has made this a rather common request. Although more data allows for a greater… Read more »

WES Prenatal Workflow Examples: Exploring Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Gaucher Disease, and Fabry Disease in Genetic Screening

         April 11, 2023

Discover powerful WES prenatal workflow examples showcasing the detection of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Gaucher Disease, and Fabry Disease through advanced genetic screening techniques. Our recent Prenatal Genetic Screening with VarSeq webcast focused on using whole exome sequencing for prenatal genetic analysis. This webcast was a hit with our customers, who asked for more information on different filtering chains to identify… Read more »

Prenatal Genetic Screening with VarSeq Webinar Highlights

         March 16, 2023

Explore the cutting-edge capabilities of VarSeq in prenatal genetic screening as we delve into real-life cases, expert analysis, and efficient strategies to quickly assess Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) samples for genetic abnormalities in our recent webinar. Thank you all to those who attended our VarSeq webinar covering prenatal genetic screening! We had a great turnout and loved hearing from our… Read more »

Creating a BED File from RefSeq: A Comprehensive Guide for Accurate Data Analysis

         February 14, 2023

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a BED File from RefSeq for Accurate Data Analysis Our FAS team has received a flurry of inquiries recently, asking how to run coverage statistics on their projects without a pre-defined BED file. We’re here to help! To analyze sample coverage statistics, you’ll need a BAM or CRAM file that displays the read depth coverage… Read more »

Webcast Recap: Somatic Variant Analysis in VarSeq 2.3.0

         December 22, 2022
Webcast Recap: Somatic Variant Analysis in VarSeq 2.3.0

Our FAS team would like to thank everyone who attended our December 2022 webcast, A User’s Perspective: Somatic Variant Analysis in VarSeq 2.3.0. This webcast allowed three members of our FAS team to give their unique insights concerning the improvements to our new VarSeq 2.3.0 release, which will be recapped here. Starting with template creation, our Technical Field Application Scientist,… Read more »

Women in STEM: Golden Helix Employees

         November 10, 2022

Here at Golden Helix, we would like to take a moment and highlight some of our amazing and talented women in STEM! Below are short excerpts from some of our own Golden Helix employees and their experiences both in STEM and here at Golden Helix.   Rana Smalling Field Application Scientist B.S. in Biological Sciences, Ph.D. in Biochemistry My experience in STEM started in… Read more »

Using rsID lookup in a VarSeq Workflow

         October 4, 2022

There are many reasons a user may wish to focus in on specific variants as part of variant annotation and filtration workflow. You may be looking for the occurrence of specific SNPs in a cohort or perhaps looking for variants known to be associated with specific forms of cancer. For both of these use cases, VarSeq provides a Match String… Read more »

FASTQ to Report: Streamlining the process with Golden Helix Software

         August 3, 2022

Manually converting FASTQs to VCFs, importing these into VarSeq, and building projects from scratch is adequate when you have only a handful of cases per week. But as you start ramping up production, the key to your lab’s success quickly becomes how quickly and efficiently you can get to the reporting of your analysis. This blog will explain how you… Read more »

Locking down clinically validated workflows for routine analysis

         July 20, 2022

Let’s say you are the director of a large lab, which is running tens or hundreds of standard NGS sample analyses per week. You have a number of employees with varying levels of analysis background, and you want to be sure everyone is running the analysis the same way. You are also concerned about updating catalogs that could create differences… Read more »

Handling a Variety of CNV Caller Inputs with VarSeq – Webcast Recap

         July 19, 2022

First, thank you to everyone who joined us for our recent webcast, Handling a Variety of CNV Caller Inputs with VarSeq. Also, we would like to thank those that Tweeted #CNVsupport @GoldenHelix or emailed us (mmarks@goldenhelix.com) to throw in their questions. This was a successful trial run, and we would like to continue engaging with our users through these outlets…. Read more »

CNV Probability and Inheritance Based on Coverage with VarSeq

         May 17, 2022

The overall objective of Trio Analysis is to leverage inheritance data to determine the ancestry of variants in the proband, whether that be through transmission from the mother and father, or of de novo origin. We have previously covered family based analysis in this blog post and this webcast, but both of these sources have been based on variants brought… Read more »

Mining VarSeq Curated Databases for Literature – Raw Data Search in Variant Table or GenomeBrowse

         April 21, 2022

An under-utilized use of VarSeq is the ability of mining raw variant data in GenomeBrowse for relevant literature. By bringing in various public and private annotation sources, GenomeBrowse allows the user to interface with raw variant data in a compressed and manageable view. This blog will show you how to leverage these sources to power up your search for variant… Read more »

Review of VarSeq Export Options

         March 10, 2022
varseq export options

Although best known for its auto-generation of custom reports, VarSeq comes with a slew of options for exporting your data. In this blog, we will review some of the lesser-known methods for exporting your data into usable formats. These four export options can all be found under the Export tab at the upper left corner of your VarSeq interface (Figure… Read more »