I recently curated the latest population frequency catalog from the 1000 Genomes Project onto our annotation servers, and I had very high hopes for this track. First of all, I applaud 1000 Genomes for the amount of effort they have put in to providing the community with the largest set of high-quality whole genome controls available. My high hopes are… Read more »
Last month I was inspired to create a new way to keep our customers apprised of the latest information on Golden Helix software without cluttering inboxes and overwhelming our blog. I happened to receive a link to an article for one of Illumina’s bulletins and realized that was exactly what we needed at Golden Helix as well! On Wednesday, we… Read more »
There is nothing cooler than having something arrive that you have been excitedly waiting for: last week I got an email notification that my 23andMe exome results were ready. Actually, I got 3 emails that my exome results were ready. You see, I lucked out. It all began two years ago on DNA day when Hacker News reported that 23andMe… Read more »
SVS 7.6.7 features new tools for filtering sequencing data based on functional predictions and allele frequencies. To complement these new features, new annotations tracks have been uploaded to our data server and are now available for our customers! Below you will find descriptions of the new tools and the related annotations track(s).
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 »
Recently I gave a presentation on bioinformatic filtering: the process of using quality scores, annotation databases, and functional prediction scores to intelligently and quickly reduce your variant search space. View the recording here» In this webcast, I mention that filtering is something we have been doing for a long time, and that there are some great examples that use exome… Read more »
The script development team at Golden Helix has been hard at work these past few months and this means several new and exciting tools for our SVS customers! The scripts featured in this blog post vary in function, from expanding the analytical options currently offered in SVS to transforming and editing spreadsheets. As always, we invite you to visit our… Read more »
As Product Quality Manager, I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the best way to communicate with our Golden Helix customers with regards to product quality and customer support issues. Most of our customers at this point have already seen several emails from me this year! Email is certainly one way to get an announcement… Read more »
Reading through the last release of AJHG I saw a couple papers mention that the putative rare variant they were investigating was “not present in over 10,000 control chromosomes from the EVS”. My first reaction was, “What? Do they mean the NHLBI 5400 Exome Sequencing Project? They only have 5,400 exomes not over 10,000! I wonder if there is some… Read more »
Today I ran into an interesting fact about how a prolifically used catalog of population controls classifies African Americans with potential impacts on research outcomes. The 1000 Genomes Project is arguably our best common set of controls used in genomic studies. They recently finished what was termed as “Phase 1” of the project, and they have been releasing full sets… Read more »
Bioinformatics is a serious thing. Petabytes of data that hold the truth to the genetic underpinnings of the human species, among many others, are generated and analyzed by the world’s leading scientists every year. Here at Golden Helix, we thought that there was plenty of room to add a little humor into the bioinformatics world. Meet Dr. X. He is… Read more »
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 efforts have failed to unravel the complete biological architecture of… Read more »
Editor’s Note: This case study was written while Dr. Gonzalo Rincon was with the University of California, Davis. Dr. Rincon is now working as a Principal Investigator in Animal Genetics at Zoetis. Gonzalo Rincon, DVM is a Project Scientist in the Medrano Lab, part of the Department of Animal Science, at the University of California, Davis. While the lab works… Read more »
My work in the GHI analytical services department gives me the opportunity to handle data from a variety of sources. I have learned over time that every genotyping platform has its own personality. Every time we get data from a new chip, I tend to learn something new about the quirks of genotyping technology. I usually discover these quirks the… Read more »
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 allow new methodologies to be created and expanded. They tie… Read more »
I’m a huge supporter of the Free and Open Source Software movement. I’ve written more about R than anything else on my blog, all the code I post on my blog is free and open-source, and a while back I invited you to steal my blog under a cc-by-sa license. Every now and then, however, something comes along that just might be worth paying… Read more »
Recently several customers have asked how SNP & Variation Suite (SVS) treats gender when calculating genotype statistics. In this blog post, I will cover SVS’ current capabilities, what we have available through Python scripts, and what is coming in the near future. We thank all of our customers who have inquired about these capabilities and have given us valuable feedback… Read more »
Dr. Julia Pinsonneault is a Research Scientist at The Ohio State University where she works to find biomarkers that guide effective treatment. Published recently in Neuropsychopharmacology, Julia has found success using SVS to find novel associations that move her research forward. Usually managing 3-5 research projects at a time from various cohorts, she found time in her busy schedule this… Read more »
As most in the Golden Helix community are aware, SNP & Variation Suite (SVS) can handle all sorts of data including files from Affymetrix, Illumina, Agilent, and Complete Genomics with its powerful data management capabilities. Announced in February, SVS is now part of the Pacific Biosciences Partner Program and has the ability to analyze PacBio files.
This month Biostatistics published online an open access article I co-authored with Dr. Laura Black from Montana State University: “Learning From Our GWAS Mistakes: From Experimental Design To Scientific Method.” The paper version is expected to come out in the April 2012 issue. I’m hoping that you will take the time to read it. And I’m hoping you will violently… Read more »
