Author Archives: Andreas Scherer

About Andreas Scherer

Dr. Andreas Scherer is CEO of Golden Helix. The company has been delivering industry leading bioinformatics solutions for the advancement of life science research and translational medicine for over a decade. Its innovative technologies and analytic services empower scientists and healthcare professionals at all levels to derive meaning from the rapidly increasing volumes of genomic data produced from next-generation sequencing. With its solutions, hundreds of the world’s hospitals and testing labs are able to harness the full potential of genomics to identify the cause of disease, develop genomic diagnostics, and advance the quest for personalized medicine. Golden Helix products and services have been cited in thousands of peer-reviewed publications. Golden Helix is also on the Inc 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. He is also Managing Partner of Salto Partners, Inc, a management consulting firm headquartered in Nevada.  He has extensive experience successfully managing growth as well as orchestrating complex turnaround situations. His company, Salto Partners, advises on business strategy, financing, sales, and operations. Clients are operating in the high-tech and life sciences space. Dr. Scherer holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Hagen, Germany, and a Master of Computer Science from the University of Dortmund, Germany. He is author and co- author of over 20 international publications and has written books on project management, the Internet, and artificial intelligence. His latest book, “Be Fast Or Be Gone”, is a prizewinner in the 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards competition, and has been named a finalist in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards! 

  

Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens: Part IV

         April 28, 2020

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology has decreased the price of nucleotide sequencing exponentially in the last 10 years. The clinical applications are broad, from diagnosis of rare diseases, to carrier screening and hereditary disease risk, and finally, for the personalized treatment of cancer with molecular profiling of tumors for therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic genomic biomarkers.  Discovery and Sharing of the Reference Genome for SARS-CoV-2  With… Read more »

Featured in The Journal of Precision Medicine: Best Practices for NGS-Based Cancer Diagnostics

         April 27, 2020

It is an honor to be published in The Journal of Precision Medicine’s March 2020 issue where I have outlined the current best practices for NGS-based cancer diagnostics. In this article, I detail: The need to standardize clinical reporting Popular annotation sources and functional prediction algorithms The AMP Guidelines and how these can be applied with Golden Helix’s Diagnostic Platform… Read more »

Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens: Part III

         April 21, 2020

*The following text is only a preview of our new eBook “Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens”. Request a free copy to access the full version.* Next-Gen Sequencing (NGS) of the novel virus can make a tremendous contribution in enhancing our understanding of the underlying pathways in which it impacts humans. In a short period of time… Read more »

Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens: Part II

         April 14, 2020

*The following text is only a preview of our new eBook “Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens”. Request a free copy to access the full version.* SARS-CoV-2 has just been recently discovered. The knowledge about this virus is fairly new and certain aspects of it are still under review or in-flux entirely as we learn more about… Read more »

Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens: Part I

         April 7, 2020

*The following text is only a preview of our new eBook “Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens”. Request a free copy to access the full version.* At the end of 2019, a virus appeared somewhere in the Chinese city of Wuhan. It caused cold and flu-like symptoms in most, but also pneumonia and death in a few…. Read more »

Golden Helix Software Discounted for COVID-19 Related Projects

         April 6, 2020

For more than 20 years, Golden Helix has focused on our mission to empower precision medicine around the world. We want you to know you have our commitment to continue providing you with the products and services you depend on during these unprecedented times. Today, we have announced our latest efforts to help assist the clinical research community in this… Read more »

New eBook Release: Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens

         March 31, 2020

This morning I released a new eBook titled “Genetic Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus and Other Pathogens“.  The COVID-19 pandemic is reaching historic proportions. We are dealing with an infectious disease that is caused by a novel coronavirus we discovered just a few months ago. Since then, it has brought healthcare systems to the brink, it altered how we work,… Read more »

COVID-19 Remote Assistance Program for Golden Helix Users

         March 13, 2020

At Golden Helix, customer support is our number one priority. This support also includes the health and safety of all the members of our community. During this time of uncertainty, we first want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of the healthcare industry around the globe, working so hard to conquer this outbreak. Secondly, we realize a significant portion of our… Read more »

Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs: Part IV

         February 13, 2020

Golden Helix is in a unique position to provide a secure on-premise analysis solution. This capability is based on two enablers. First, we build our software solutions from scratch and from the ground-up with the assumption that it should run on any operating system and potentially behind firewalls or even without internet access. Second, we provide these solutions on a licensing model based on training and supporting users, not… Read more »

Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs: Part III

         February 6, 2020

There is no shortage of actors in cyberspace who can be a potential threat to an organization. The list ranges from high schoolers who want to put newly acquired skills to the test, employees or partners who have access to the company network, to professional hackers who intend to hold data hostage or plan to resell information. On the highest-end, some state-financed actors extend their… Read more »

Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs: Part II

         January 30, 2020

Data and security breaches are a fact of life. Organizations are aware of the threats and putting their best efforts up to prevent them as much as possible. Industries across the entire spectrum have been exposed in recent years. I will go through a few examples to show how pervasive this issue has become.  Target  One prominent data breach occurred in… Read more »

Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs: Part I

         January 23, 2020

Hospitals and testing labs are undergoing a digital transformation like any other business in our time. They deal with personal data in categories with the highest level of security requirements: personal identity and medical records. The architecture chosen to store and analyze this data is critical to provide the best protection against a data breach incident. The liability and institutional… Read more »

New eBook Release: Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs

         January 9, 2020

I am delighted to be starting the year with releasing a new eBook, “Cyber Security Strategies for NGS Testing Labs”. The field of Precision Medicine is at the forefront of changing the face of healthcare. It changes how we diagnose patients and provides new treatment options that did not exist just a few years ago. It is data-driven by nature. As a… Read more »

2019/20 Abstract Competition

         November 28, 2019
Recent Customer Publications

We look forward to hearing how you are using Golden Helix software in your clinical or research work! Golden Helix strives to enable precision medicine by developing powerful software to support researchers and clinicians with complex analysis. One of my favorite events of the year is our abstract competition. This competition allows us to help our community by recognizing innovative… Read more »

Reflecting on AMP 2019

         November 14, 2019

Our team has returned from the annual meeting of the Association of Molecular Pathology (AMP 2019), and, as always, I am grateful for all the wonderful experiences we are bringing back with us. The plenary sessions and talks were bountiful, and we were very impressed with the well-organized exhibition. Hats off to everyone involved in planning this great event! Innovation… Read more »

Reflecting on ASHG 2019

         October 22, 2019

As our team returns from another successful ASHG conference, I would like to reflect on the great memories, connections, and future plans that were made at this meeting. First, I will start by thanking everyone involved with the superb planning and execution of the conference. We are thankful to have this opportunity to connect with our customers, partners, and friends… Read more »

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer: Part V

         July 2, 2019

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer – Applying AMP Guidelines to Analyze Somatic Variants Detecting cancer at an early stage can make it much more treatable. Developing tests and making them clinically actionable is crucial to beat this disease. This eBook covers the state-of-the-art gene panel tests for cancer. Of course, there is more that can be done. The field is… Read more »

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer: Part IV

         June 25, 2019

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer – Applying AMP Guidelines to Analyze Somatic Variants Somatic variants can manifest in different ways: Single Nucleotide Variants Indels Fusions and Copy Number Variations There is a difference between the interpretation of germline and somatic variants. The former is exclusively focused on establishing the level of pathogenicity vis a vis a particular disease. In contrast… Read more »

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer: Part III

         June 18, 2019

Clinical Variant Analysis for Cancer – Applying AMP Guidelines to Analyze Somatic Variants As described in my eBook “Genetic Testing for Cancer,” any bioinformatic pipeline for cancer ultimately calls variants based on the aligned reads that the sequencer generated. Variant calling is the process of reviewing a sequence alignment, typically in the form of a BAM file, to identify loci… Read more »