Category Archives: Big Picture

Golden Helix Launches Enterprise Genomic Analysis with VarSeq 3 and VSWarehouse 3

         May 22, 2025
Enterprise Genomic Analysis with VarSeq 3 & VSWarehouse 3 Featured Image

Today, we announced the release of VarSeq 3 and VSWarehouse 3, marking a major milestone in enterprise-scale secondary and tertiary genomic analysis. The release introduces cloud-native deployment options optimized for AWS and Azure, expanded support for hybrid and on-premise support, flexible licensing models, including per-sample packaging tailored to small and mid-sized labs. To support these new deployment and licensing models,… Read more »

Taking Control of Your Data: Why Ownership Matters in Genomic Analysis

         April 21, 2025
Why Data Ownership Matters in Genomic Analysis Icon

In the rapidly evolving field of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and precision medicine, data sovereignty has emerged as a critical concern for bioinformatic operations. Healthcare organizations, molecular diagnostic laboratories, and government-funded genome centers worldwide increasingly recognize that maintaining complete control over high-dimensional genomic data isn’t merely about regulatory compliance—it’s fundamentally about scientific autonomy, institutional independence, and long-term data stewardship within a… Read more »

Golden Helix Partners with the Danish Healthcare Regions to Drive Advancements in Genomic Medicine

         March 10, 2025

Golden Helix, a global leader in bioinformatics solutions for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and precision medicine, is proud to announce a multi-year agreement with all Danish healthcare regions. The agreement aims to enhance the genomic capabilities of multiple laboratories within the regions, supporting critical advancements in cancer and hereditary disease diagnostics. In a unified effort across Denmark’s healthcare regions, the laboratories… Read more »

Golden Helix: Charting Our 2025 Strategy

         January 2, 2025

We just wrapped up a dynamic and rewarding 2024. Hence, we want to take a moment to celebrate key milestones that have set the stage for our next chapter. This year, we pushed our solutions to new frontiers in clinical genomics. Here are the major accomplishments of last year: 1. Pharmacogenomics: releasing VSPGx entering into a new class of genetic… Read more »

Webcast Follow-Up: Answering Your Questions on VSWarehouse 3 and Bring Your Own Cloud

         November 21, 2024

Thank you to everyone who attended our recent webcast, Bring Your Own Cloud: Clinical Testing at Scale with VSWarehouse 3. We’re thrilled about the level of engagement during the Q&A session and wanted to take the opportunity to elaborate on some of the key questions asked. Here’s a recap of the answers: 1. Is it more expensive to run on… Read more »

The Versatility of VarSeq: Local and Cloud Deployment Options

         August 6, 2024

Cloud computation is a hot topic across industries that require scalable software solutions to enable growth, and for good reason. The cloud, in all its mystical appeal, has so mellifluously penetrated the zeitgeist that experts engaging with new software solutions are often eager to hear how they fit into the cloud computing ecosystem. In the world of next-generation sequencing (NGS),… Read more »

VarSeq 2.6.0 is Released!

         March 26, 2024

We have been building up to the final release of VarSeq 2.6.0 for a couple of weeks now, but we are excited to announce that 2.6.0 is officially available! VarSeq 2.6.0 is an exciting release as this version of VarSeq features the introduction of VSPGx, offering a complete pharmacogenomic workflow, including data import, variant analysis, and report generation. We have… Read more »

Golden Helix VarSeq in Action – P715: Analyzing performance of the Twist exome with CNV backbone at various probe densities leveraging Golden Helix VS-CNV

         March 22, 2024

Recently, at ACMG 2024, we unveiled a collaborative research project with Twist Biosciences. By utilizing Twist Bioscience enhanced Exome 2.0 Plus Comprehensive Exome Spike-In capture panel with added backbone probes, we developed a multi-modal CNV caller designed specifically for target-capture NGS data to detect single-exon to whole-chromosome aneuploid CNV events. We are proud to say that from Golden Helix, Andreas… Read more »

Management of Large-Scale Genomic Data with VarSeq Warehouse

         December 14, 2023

VarSeq Warehouse is the solution provided by Golden Helix for management of large-scale genomic data. It serves a centralized, indexed variant repository that stores variants and assessments from selected samples or projects. Management of large-scale genomic data with VSWarehouse enables entire teams, including collaborators, to oversee key aspects of their NGS workflows. This includes allele frequency tracking across cohorts, cataloging,… 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 »

How a neonate’s rash can be one of your most important pieces of data: making phenotypic info statistically tractable for clinical diagnostics

         August 5, 2021

I remember visiting a patient in the NICU amongst the incubators, some glowing blue like tiny tanning beds to treat jaundice, all containing tiny humans – many smaller than a loaf of bread. Infants get admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit or NICU for many reasons ranging from elevated bilirubin, hypoglycemia, sepsis, and respiratory distress (RDS). Many are eventually… Read more »

Highlights from our PhoRank 2.0 Webcast

         June 10, 2021

Thank you to those who attended our recent webcast, “PhoRank 2.0: Improved Phenotype-Based Gene Ranking in VarSeq”. For those who could not attend, you can find a link to the recording here. This webcast covered upcoming improvements to the PhoRank phenotype-based gene ranking algorithm based on literature published in the years since the algorithm’s development. The PhoRank Algorithm When performing… Read more »

Webcast Recap: Exome Analysis with VS-CNV and VSClinical: Updated Strategies and Expanded Capabilities

         April 8, 2021
Exome CNV webcast

Thank you to those who attended the recent webcast, “Exome Analysis with VS-CNV & VSClinical: Updated Strategies & Expanded Capabilities”. For those who could not attend but wish to watch, here is a link to the recording. In this webcast, we covered the capabilities and updates that have been incorporated into VarSeq that enhance whole exome sequencing workflows. The new… Read more »

What to expect from Golden Helix in 2021

         January 1, 2021

Happy New Year! I hope you had an opportunity to relax over the holidays with your family and friends. It’s time to start talking about our plans for the New Year, but first, please allow me to review a few highlights from 2020 that helped build a foundation for our future. Growth: Golden Helix was named to the 2020 Inc… Read more »

Featured in The Journal of Precision Medicine: Golden Helix’s Recent Release for a New Workflow for Interpretating and Reporting Copy Number Variants in Concordance with the Recently Updated ACMG Guidelines: Introduction

         December 28, 2020

Have you seen us in The Journal of Precision Medicine? Last week, our team released VarSeq 2.2.2 loaded with a number of updates and VSClinical’s highly-anticipated ACMG-CNV Guideline workflow! We have spent the past several months sharing webcasts and blogs on this new capability. We are honored to also have this new solution recognized in The Journal of Precision Medicine… Read more »

Golden Helix’s NGS-Solutions for Clinical Variant Analysis: VSClinical’s Assessment Catalog

         August 14, 2020

It doesn’t take much effort to find articles discussing the value of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). There is a consistent tone amongst authors that implementing NGS pipelines are critical for clinical efficiency in both hereditary disorders and somatic. However, NGS strategies do not come without their own challenges. Challenges include not only the detection and calling of high quality/probability variants from… Read more »

Featured in The European Journal of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences: Investigating COVID-19 Infections Leveraging Next-Gen Sequencing

         July 8, 2020

It is an honor to be published in the European Journal of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 4) in an article co-authored by Dr. Christiane Scherer and myself, “Investigating the Global Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Leveraging Next-Gen Sequencing and Principal Component Analysis.” This study highlights how genomic surveillance of COVID-19 using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) can uncover transmission patterns and mutation… Read more »

Featured in Clinical OMICs: Enabling Precision Medicine with Cutting-Edge NGS Technologies

         June 22, 2020
Clinical OMICs May/June 2020

It is an honor to be featured in the Clinical OMICs May/June 2020 issue in a Q&A with the Editor discussing the past, present, and future of Golden Helix. In this article, I detail: Clinical OMICs Article: What has been Golden Helix’s most significant success or contribution to the industry over the past five years? Golden Helix started in 1998 with a… Read more »

Featured in Clinical Lab Manager: Leveraging Next-Generation Sequencing Technology in the Fight Against COVID-19

         May 5, 2020

It is an honor to be featured by Clinical Lab Manager where I discuss how Next-Gen Sequencing can be leveraged in the fight against COVID-19.The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems across the globe. While lockdowns and social distancing measures helped slow the spread, they are not long-term solutions. Most experts agree that widespread testing and contact tracing are essential… Read more »