Tag Archives: Golden Helix

2022 Innovation Awards

         December 1, 2021

We at Golden Helix love seeing our software and solutions out in action. Whether it is to find a clinical solution or to assist in academic research, seeing YOU use our tools to the best of their ability gets us excited to continue developing industry-leading software. For the 2022 Innovation Awards we would like to see all the creative and… Read more »

VarSeq 2.2.4 Release

         November 30, 2021
varseq2.2.4

We are very excited to announce that just last week, we released VarSeq 2.2.4! In the past few months, we have been building the excitement for the 2.2.4 version of VarSeq with several webcasts in which we describe some of the headlining features in detail such as the new support for Gene Panels and Gene Lists, PhoRank Clinical, and Customized… Read more »

Breaking Down ACMG CNV Guidelines in VSClinical

         November 25, 2021

In February 2020, the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) and the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) published a joint consensus on standards for the interpretation and reporting of copy number variants (CNVs) ranging from large CNVs spanning multiple genes to small intragenic events1. The guidelines consist of over 80 different criteria which are arranged into five distinct sections. These extensive… Read more »

Highlights From Our Golden Helix CancerKB Webcast

         November 24, 2021

Thank you to everyone who attended Using Golden Helix CancerKB to Accelerate NGS Cancer Testing! I had a great time showing off Golden Helix CancerKB and how it can enhance NGS analysis in cancer, I certainly hope you enjoyed it! If you were unable to make the live session, we have added the on-demand recording to our site, or we… Read more »

Top FAS Tricks You Wish You Knew When Getting Started with VSClinical

         November 18, 2021
vsclinical top things to know

As a newer member of the Golden Helix FAS Team I, like many of our customers, went through a phase of learning the ins, outs, and shortcuts of clicking around the program. In an effort to expedite new users coming up to speed, or to teach some tricks to experienced users, I’ve compiled a list of the top things I… Read more »

Validating Your CNV Workflow

         November 16, 2021
VS-CNV Blog Validation

The VarSeq CNV calling algorithm, VS-CNV, is a powerful tool for calling CNVs from the NGS coverage data stored in your BAM files. However, before this algorithm can be deployed in a clinical setting, it must be tuned and validated using data that is representative of your lab’s NGS workflow. In the past, this validation process could be difficult, as… Read more »

VarSeq Advanced Reporting Customizations: Part 1

         November 9, 2021
BLOG-11.9.21-VarSeq-Custom-Reports-Part-1

As we move towards the end of the year, our FAS Team is excited to announce our short blog series highlighting some of the Customization Features in our up-and-coming VarSeq release! The goal of this blog series is to show examples of how generating a clinical report can be customized to accommodate a wide range of functionality. Our December webcast,… Read more »

Customer Publications in October 2021

         October 28, 2021
varseq customer publications October 2021

The customer-published articles this October cite the range of Golden Helix’s VarSeq annotation range and capability. The following publications feature everything from annotating an Italian nobleman mummy, assisting in identifying mutations in primary congenital and juvenile glaucoma, new mutations associated with muscular dystrophinopathy, and germline variants associated with head and neck cancer. In each of these cases, VarSeq was utilized… Read more »

Details of the Golden Helix CancerKB Database Update

         October 21, 2021
cancerkb updates

Recently we have released blog posts discussing updates to annotations in VarSeq such as ClinVar and COSMIC. Keeping with that trend, in this blog post, I will discuss the most recent updates to the Golden Helix CancerKB database. For those how may be unfamiliar with the Golden Helix CancerKB source, it is a professional curated set of interpretations for the… Read more »

Five Annotation Sources You Should Know

         October 19, 2021
Golden Helix Annotation Blog Featured Image

In addition to Golden Helix providing easy-to-use genomic software, we also provide value to our users by automating the curation of public databases used in our tools. These annotation sources serve multiple purposes not only leveraging key fields in the filter chain but also automatically supplying evidence for the ACMG and AMP classifications reviewed in VSClinical. Supporting the curation of… Read more »

Reviewing Clinical Studies for Novel Splice Variants in VSClinical

         October 12, 2021
DNA spliced site

In order to thoroughly assess a variant’s pathogenicity, it is important to take into account the variant’s effect on splicing. While the interpretation of variants that disrupt the pairs of bases at the beginning of a splice site is fairly straightforward, variants resulting in the introduction of a novel splice site are more difficult to interpret. In this blog post,… Read more »

Updates to Somatic Variant Annotation and a New Way to Evaluate Fusions in VSClinical

         September 29, 2021
ClinVar

With the release of VarSeq 2.2.4 just around the corner, I want to detail some new 2.2.4 features that will enhance somatic variant annotation and fusion analysis within VSClinical. A webcast back in July showed some of these updates in action, so if you are looking for some more content on this topic, I would highly recommend checking out the… Read more »

Updates to ClinVar Curation to Include More Pathogenic Variants

         September 14, 2021

In the September 2021 monthly update to our curated ClinVar track, we made some changes that will result in roughly another 7,000 Likely Pathogenic and Pathogenic variants being available for annotation and use in the ACMG auto-classification system.  Consensus Between Labs  ClinVar has nearly one million unique variant classification records that are curated into multiple annotation tracks used in VarSeq and VSClinical on a monthly basis. Clinical… Read more »

Case Study with LifeCell International: Transforming Precision Medicine in India

         September 13, 2021

Established in 2004 and headquartered in Chennai, India, with regional centers across the country, LifeCell runs India’s largest stem cell bank and has also diversified into diagnostics and tissue therapeutics. They employ roughly 2,000 people, providing genetic services to customers in the mother and baby space. Phani Nagaraja Setty is working as a scientist at LifeCell. Setty obtained his Master’s… Read more »

Merging VCFs in an Imperfect World

         September 7, 2021

Merging variant records, VCFs, across samples is important when performing trio or family analysis as it ensures that hereditary relationships can be properly inferred. There are many ways to represent a single variant. Insertions and deletions may be right or left aligned, prefixes and suffixes can be added, and adjacent variants in the same sample may be combined or split… Read more »

VSClinical Customer Publications for August 2021

         August 31, 2021
customer

Welcome to the August edition of our customer publications blog post! Each month we spotlight a few recently published articles by our incredible Golden Helix customers. With users spanning both research and clinical spaces, the topics vary widely across many fields. This month, we will be highlighting VSClinical users and the guided workflow. Host Genetics and Antiviral Immune Responses in… Read more »

ESHG 2021 Corporate Satellite Talks

         August 26, 2021
ESHG

Join the Golden Helix team at this year’s ESHG 2021 Virtual Conference! We will be presenting two different talks on our different product solutions and fielding any questions you might have. VSClinical: a comprehensive NGS clinical solution The first talk, VSClinical: a comprehensive NGS clinical solution, will be on Sun, 29 August, 14:00-15:00. This will be moderated by Golden Helix… Read more »

Efficient Gene Panel Utilization in VarSeq

         August 24, 2021

Clinical diagnostic efforts in next-generation sequencing are commonly defined at a gene panel level. The validation process of adding new genes to any diagnostic panel is ongoing, but labs typically construct and validate their clinical workflows for the current status of verified genes. This is not limited to primary finding results but can also include any incidental findings among the… Read more »

Golden Helix Named on Inc 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies for 3rd Consecutive Year

         August 17, 2021

Inc. magazine today revealed that Golden Helix, Inc. is No. 3267 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained… Read more »

How a neonate’s rash can be one of your most important pieces of data: making phenotypic info statistically tractable for clinical diagnostics

         August 5, 2021

I remember visiting a patient in the NICU amongst the incubators, some glowing blue like tiny tanning beds to treat jaundice, all containing tiny humans – many smaller than a loaf of bread. Infants get admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit or NICU for many reasons ranging from elevated bilirubin, hypoglycemia, sepsis, and respiratory distress (RDS). Many are eventually… Read more »