Big Picture

Preparing the Next Generation of Genetic Researchers

Mar 25, 2014

New breakthroughs are being made every day in genomics. It’s a dynamic and fascinating industry, and with exceptional growth forecast in the DNA sequencing market, a new generation of people are entering the field: future researchers, clinicians, counselors and doctors. This new generation will need to learn not only the…

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The Next Chapter of Golden Helix: Our Launch of SVS 8

Mar 11, 2014

Today is a big day for us. Today we are announcing a major release of our flagship product, SNP & Variation Suite (SVS), to the general public. SVS 8 is a substantial improvement over the previous release in a number of dimensions (see detailed discussion on our What’s New page).…

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The Next Phase in Our Evolution

May 8, 2013

Time goes by fast. With the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, scientists worldwide were trying to understand the cause and effect of variations in the genome as they relate to functionalities, traits and disease. Along the way, we at Golden Helix helped researchers analyze data, discover variations…

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Is Illumina Aiming to Compete with its Customers?

Feb 12, 2013

In a recent GenomeWeb article by Tony Fong, “Sequenom’s CEO ‘Puzzled’ by Illumina’s Buy of Verinata, Lays out 2013 Goals at JP Morgan,” Harry Hixson, Sequenom’s CEO, expresses puzzlement over why its major supplier, Illumina, is acquiring a Sequenom competitor in Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), and thus apparently competing with…

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Learning vs. Doing (or why that Ph.D. took 10 years)

Aug 15, 2012

What prevents scientists from being more productive and if we knew, could we do anything about it? I’d like to look at an often overlooked, but huge productivity inhibitor — bad multitasking. Many people put “excellent multitasker” on their resume as a badge of honor. We laud the efficiency of…

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Have We Wasted 7 Years and $100 Million Dollars on GWAS Studies?

Jun 21, 2012

Type 2 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Obesity, Chrohn’s Diseases and Coronary Heart Disease are examples of common, chronic diseases that have a significant genetic component. It should be no surprise that these diseases have been the target of much genetic research. Yet over the past decade, the tools of our research…

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Is Free Software Really Free?

May 23, 2012

The prevalence of open-source bioinformatic tools in the genetic research space is enormous. According to The North Shore LIJ Research Institute, there are over 500 genetic analysis software packages – the great majority of which are free – as of August 2010. Open-source tools are incredibly important in genetics. They…

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Leaky Sprinklers and “The Future of NGS Market Study 2011”

Nov 23, 2011

Have you ever chosen to do something yourself instead of paying money for the alternative, when, in the long run, the alternative is not really that expensive? We all have, as we all have limited budgets. One particular example comes to mind in my own life. My boyfriend, Ben, and…

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Is NGS the Answer?

Nov 9, 2011

While there is a lot of excitement in the industry about Next-Generation Sequencing, questions remain as to whether it will be “the answer” to the ails of the genetic research industry. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with three of Golden Helix’s thought leaders and ask a few…

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Influencing the Global Dialog on Healthcare

Sep 28, 2011

On September 16-17th, I attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC) Health Systems Innovation Policy Dialog in San Francisco. It was a stimulating opportunity to look at global healthcare concerns from the perspective of developing and developed economies. There was much opportunity to  dialog and frame the issues around transforming healthcare…

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A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Next Generation Sequencing – Part 3

Jan 19, 2011

The advances in DNA sequencing are another magnificent technological revolution that we’re all excited to be a part of. Similar to how the technology of microprocessors enabled the personalization of computers, or how the new paradigms of web 2.0 redefined how we use the internet, high-throughput sequencing machines are defining…

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A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Next Generation Sequencing – Part 2

Dec 9, 2010

When you think about the cost of doing genetic research, it’s no secret that the complexity of bioinformatics has been making data analysis a larger and larger portion of the total cost of a given project or study. With next-gen sequencing data, this reality is rapidly setting in. In fact,…

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A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Next Generation Sequencing – Part 1

Nov 15, 2010

If you have had any experience with Golden Helix, you know we are not a company to shy away from a challenge. We helped pioneer the uncharted territory of copy number analysis with our optimal segmenting algorithm, and we recently handcrafted a version that runs on graphical processing units that…

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Stop Ignoring Experimental Design (or my head will explode)

Sep 29, 2010

Over the past 3 years, Golden Helix has analyzed dozens of public and customer whole-genome and candidate gene datasets for a host of studies.  Though genetic research certainly has a number of complexities and challenges, the number one problem we encounter, which also has the greatest repercussions, is born of…

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Missing Heritability and the Future of GWAS

Aug 26, 2010

“Where is the missing heritability?” is a question asked frequently in genetic research, usually in the context of diseases that have large heritability estimates, say 60-80%, and yet where only perhaps 5-10% of that heritability has been found. The difficulty seems to come down to the common disease/common variant hypothesis…

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Rising Above Uncertainty: Increasing Clinical Yield in Array-Based Cytogenetics

Jul 27, 2010

As Andy Ferrin and I drove the five-hour car ride home from a cytogenetics conference, we had a lot of time to reflect on the persistent themes we heard in presentations and dialog among conference attendees. Taking somewhat of an outsider view, we traced each complaint, each sigh of frustration,…

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