Category Archives: Customer Success

Understanding the Genetic Mechanisms of Inherited Eye Disease at the NIH – NEI

         May 31, 2016
Dr. Fielding Hejtmancik

Dr. James Fielding Hejtmancik and his team at the National Eye Institute’s Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function branch, use linkage and association studies to better understand the genetic mechanisms of inherited eye disease. The team investigates both Mendelian and complex diseases as well as functional work with a focus on cataracts, retinal degenerations, myopia and corneal dystrophies. “If it affects… Read more »

Using Pharmacogenomics to teach Intro to Chemistry

         May 27, 2016
Dr. Jeffrey Moore

As the need to educate prospective healthcare professionals in the interpretation of genetic data increases, Dr. Jeffrey Moore at the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign is using genetics in his chemistry courses. In doing so, Moore is creating a strong connection between the content in his courses and the underlying principles of health and medicine. Last year, Dr. Moore presented a webcast… Read more »

Scott Diehl Researches Genetic Causes of Periodontal Diseases Using SVS

         May 3, 2016
Dr. Scott Diehl

Scott Diehl, a professor and geneticist at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, performs family studies, association studies and gene mapping to discover the genetic causes of periodontal diseases. Originally, Diehl had a large team of bioinformaticians in the lab to help with his analyses, but the high cost of such personnel created the need for another solution. With Golden Helix’s… Read more »

Guest Presentation by Dr. Folefac Aminkeng

         April 7, 2016
Dr. Folefac Aminkeng

Dr. Folefac Aminkeng, first place winner in this year’s Abstract Challenge, will present his work to the community via a live webcast on Wednesday, April 20th at noon EDT.  Dr. Aminkeng is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Aminkeng’s research focus is the pharmacogenomics of adverse… Read more »

Introduction to Sergey Kornilov

         October 8, 2015

Our final webcast presentation in the series of winners from our Annual Abstract Challenge is first place recipient Dr. Sergey Kornilov. A Postdoctoral Associate in the Child Study Center at Yale University’s School of Medicine, Dr. Kornilov’s submission focused on the genetic basis of developmental language disorders in a geographically isolated Russian-speaking population. Next week on October 14th, he will… Read more »

An Introduction to Hilal Al Shekaili

         September 3, 2015

The past few months our webcast has featured a winner from our Annual Abstract Challenge, and we are happy to have our second place winner, Hilal Al Shekaili, as our speaker for September. Hilal’s submission surrounded novel genetic variants in a consanguineous family with pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy, and he will speak on his studies next Wednesday, September 9th (register here). To… Read more »

Using GWAS to Improve the Economics of the Aquaculture Industry

         July 9, 2015

Recently, customer Xin Geng of Auburn University published a paper using SVS, and we wanted to share his story with you. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or if you would like to learn more about SVS at [email protected]. For PhD graduate student Xin Geng, conducting Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) to uncover the quantitative trait… Read more »

Bridging the gap between genetics and organic chemistry at UIUC

         December 9, 2014

As Dr. Andreas Scherer mentioned in a blog post earlier this year, Golden Helix is committed to supporting the education of the next generation of genetic researchers. And as such, over the course of 2014, we at Golden Helix are working with education programs across the US and Canada to make teaching and learning bioinformatics easier. This fall semester at the… Read more »

Guest Post: Population Structure & Genetic Improvement in Livestock by Dr. Heather Huson

         July 30, 2014

Genetic improvement in livestock, particularly dairy cattle, has been a priority for both industry and researchers for nearly a century.  While the animal itself is the foundation for improvement, our research and the implementation of improvement has progressed with developing technologies and priorities.  In terms of genetics, we have evolved from basic measures of heritability to identifying specific mutations and… Read more »

Guest Post: Uncovering the Genetic Mechanisms of Common Language Disabilities, by John Eicher

         May 20, 2014

When many people think of learning disabilities such as dyslexia and language impairment, they typically do not think of a biological or medical condition. Even more rarely do people think of these conditions as being the result of biological and genetic phenomena. However, that is exactly what I have thought of every day during my doctoral training in the Department… Read more »

Matthew McClure, PhD Analyzes Genotypic Data to Determine Cattle’s Breeding Potential

         May 13, 2014

For lead geneticist Dr. Matthew McClure, of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), finding a software program that could handle massive amounts of data as well as more than the standard twenty-three pairs of chromosomes found in humans was a challenge. McClure says, “Agriculture often feels like the black sheep of the genomics industry. The majority of current genetic analysis… Read more »

Guest Post: Finding Rare Pieces of Hay in a Haystack

         August 19, 2013

Utilizing Identical Twins Discordant for Schizophrenia to Uncover de novo Mutations We are living in exciting times – the reality of high-resolution Cand individual genome sequencing now offers renewed hope in the search for the causes of complex diseases. When this technology is combined with genetic relationships, individual sequences add unrivaled proficiency. Our lab is located in London, Ontario, Canada… Read more »

Vanessa Hayes, PhD and Desiree Petersen, PhD Use Population Genetics to Dig into Mankind’s Roots

         June 26, 2013

Humans are said to have a 0.1% rate of diversity, seemingly small, but actually quite significant when considering the future of personalized medicine. Gaining a deeper understanding of this genetic variance can help determine susceptibility to disease as well as medicinal response and outcomes. One-third of human genetic diversity can be found in a likely contender for the birthplace of… Read more »

Robert Kleta, MD, PhD and His Newly-Formed Team Publish in The New England Journal of Medicine in a Few Short Months with SVS

         May 16, 2013

Thirteen years ago, Dr. Robert Kleta had never heard of a genome-wide association study (GWAS), let alone considered doing one. Now, Dr. Kleta and his colleagues at the University College of London regularly publish articles in The New England Journal of Medicine and other journals on the genetics of rare diseases and their associated phenotypes. States Kleta, “For rare diseases,… Read more »

Dr. Folefac Aminkeng Saves Time and Increases Productivity with SVS to Study the Pharmacogenomics of Adverse Drug Reactions in Cancer Therapy

         October 17, 2012

Dr. Folefac Aminkeng is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He utilizes GWAS studies to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that might be associated with serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in cancer therapeutics. The field of pharmacogenomics—how one’s genetic makeup affects drug response—has grown exponentially… Read more »

Peter K. Gregersen, MD Puts Analytical Power in the Hands of the Biologist with SVS

         August 21, 2012

Dr. Peter K. Gregersen, head of the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, utilizes GWAS, targeted arrays, and sequencing technologies to identify genes associated with human autoimmune disorders. The arrival of the GWAS platform in the mid-2000’s greatly accelerated the pace of gene discovery—as well as accelerating the number of… Read more »

Dr. Ken Kaufman’s Webcast on Exome Sequencing Wildly Successful

         August 9, 2012

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for a webcast by Dr. Ken Kaufman of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital: “Identification of Candidate Functional Polymorphism Using Trio Family Whole Exome DNA Data.” Over 750 people registered for this event and 430 attended – a new Golden Helix record! If you missed the webcast (or would like to watch it again), the… Read more »

“Easy-to-Use” SNP & Variation Suite Assists John Curtin, PhD in Uncovering Genetic Associations for Asthma and Allergies

         July 10, 2012

Dr. John Curtin is a Lecturer in Functional Genomics at the University of Manchester where he works with a large team studying the development of asthma in a birth cohort. This group has received data on study subjects periodically for over a decade including before birth. Given how much data there is, data management is a big deal to Dr…. Read more »