Golden Helix Blog

The 10th Anniversary of GWAS

Jul 30, 2015

GWAS became possible about 10 years ago as the result of several scientific advances. Since then, GWAS has continually developed as a primary method for identification of disease susceptibility genes in humans and other organisms. At Golden Helix we are proud of our history in supporting GWAS analysis from its…

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Analyze Your 23andMe Genotype Files with Golden Helix

Jul 22, 2015

I was definitely an early adopter when it comes to personal genomics. In a recent email to their customer base announcing their one millionth customer, they revealed that I was customer #44,299. And I have been consistently impressed with the product 23andMe provides through their web interface to make your…

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Fulgent Diagnostics Implements VSPipeline to Speed Analysis & Interpretation

Jul 22, 2015

Today, we are proud to announce our collaboration with Fulgent Genetics, a CLIA certified molecular diagnostics lab. Fulgent offers more than 4,000 single gene tests among others and will implement VSPipeline to help speed up their analysis and interpretation process. On our quest to enable precision medicine, we look forward…

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Meta-Analysis is now available in SVS!

Jul 21, 2015

Earlier this spring we announced that Meta-Analysis was coming to SVS very soon. Now, I am pleased to announce that it is available in the latest release of SVS (version 8.4.0). Meta-Analysis takes the results of two or more GWAS studies for multiple SNPs or markers, and standard meta-analysis statistics are…

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Tumor/Normal Pair support now available in VarSeq!

Jul 16, 2015

VarSeq now supports analysis of paired Tumor/Normal samples! Tumor/Normal support has been one of the most common feature requests for VarSeq since it was launched late last year, and we are excited to make this functionality available to all of our VarSeq users in the latest update (version 1.1.4). VarSeq…

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Top 5 things you need to know about VSPipeline

Jul 14, 2015

Recently, Golden Helix, Inc. announced the addition of VSPipeline to our VarSeq software suite. VSPipeline is a command-line interface that will allow high throughput environments the ability to tap the full power of VarSeq’s algorithms and flexible project template system from any command line context, including existing bioinformatics pipeline. So,…

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Using GWAS to Improve the Economics of the Aquaculture Industry

Jul 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…

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Comparing Variants using a Venn Diagram

Jul 7, 2015

One of the lesser known functions in SVS allows the user to create Venn diagrams comparing variants found in multiple spreadsheets. These different spreadsheets could come from individuals samples, a case vs. control group or several variant databases. It is a helpful tool for visually comparing different variants. Start by…

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An Introduction to Dr. Ralucu Mateescu

Jul 2, 2015

A few months ago in Golden Helix’s 2nd Annual Abstract Challenge, Dr. Raluca Mateescu tied for third place with her entry on the palatability of beef. We mentioned in our previous post highlighting all of the challenge winners that Dr. Mateescu would be presenting her work for the Golden Helix…

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The Clinical Genome Conference 2015 Highlights

Jun 30, 2015

This last week I had the pleasure of attending the fourth annual Clinical Genome Conference (TCGC) in Japantown, San Francisco and kicking off the conference by teaching a short course on Personal Genomics Variant Analysis and Interpretation. Some highlights of the conference from my perspective: Talking about clinical genomics is…

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Partnership with MedGenome

Jun 17, 2015

Just a few weeks ago we announced our partnership with MedGenome. The news was covered by a number of outlets including: Financial Express Pharmabiz Let me expIain the importance and impact of this announcement. Since Varseq was released, we have received strong interest from testing labs that are leveraging our product…

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Frequently Asked Questions about VarSeq

Jun 16, 2015

The support team at Golden Helix is always on-hand to help with your SVS and VarSeq needs. We get some questions more often than others, and this blog will answer some of the most common questions we’ve been seeing lately regarding VarSeq. A common question we receive is if data…

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SAGES 2015

Jun 2, 2015

This year the MAGES symposium has a new name, the Symposium on Advances in Genomics, Epidemiology and Statistics or SAGES! The NIH has also been added to the sponsor list and we’re excited to have the support for this informative symposium! Additionally, we were treated to the addition of a…

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Baby Genes is raising the bar for Newborn Screening

May 28, 2015

Today we wanted to share a recent client case study to demonstrate how VarSeq has been implemented in a CLIA certified clinical laboratory. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or if you would like to discuss VarSeq further at [email protected]. It is standard practice for newborns to…

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What’s in a Name: The Intricacies of Identifying Variants

May 26, 2015

There’s a strong desire in the genetics community for a set of canonical transcripts. It’s a completely understandable and reasonable thing to want since it would simplify many aspects of analysis and especially the downstream communicating and reporting of variants. Unfortunately, biology isn’t so tidy as to provide a clear…

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Precision Medicine – Part VII – Regulatory Issues

May 21, 2015

Regulatory Issues Regulatory bodies such as the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) already have a full plate. In the US, FDA-regulated products account for 20 percent of each dollar spent by American consumers each year. More specifically, the work of the regulatory authorities include the following: Carefully considering benefits and risks when evaluating…

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Precision Medicine – Part VI – The Educational Challenge

May 14, 2015

The Educational Challenge Precision medicine will fundamentally change how health care is practiced. Of course, we have a long way to go. For most practitioners today, their knowledge of the human genome was established many years ago. However, new therapies and diagnostic methods are pouring in on a daily basis.…

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Precision Medicine – Part V – Bioinformatics Pipelines and Systems Infrastructure

May 7, 2015

Bioinformatics Pipelines and Systems Infrastructure The genetics industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from a clinical science focus to a bioinformatics focus. Genetic services require a greater level of data analytics sophistication than is required for other laboratory testing. Currently, data generated by new tests overwhelms current information technology systems…

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Comparing Meta-Analysis Methods: A Meta Examination

May 5, 2015

Meta-analysis is an important tool to have in the bioinformatics toolbox. The numbers alone speak for themselves. It is the fourth most requested feature for SVS, and a simple google scholar search for 2014 and 2015 find 17,300 results for genetics + meta-analysis. There are several meta-analysis utilities out there…

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Cross-Validation for Genomic Prediction in SVS

Apr 28, 2015

The SNP and Variation Suite (SVS) software currently supports three methods for genomic prediction: Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (GBLUP), Bayes C and Bayes C-pi. We have discussed these methods extensively in previous blogs and webcast events.  Although there are extensive applications for these methods, they are primarily used for…

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