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! 

  

Second-Place Abstract Competition Winner

         February 20, 2018

I hope you were able to join us for last week’s webcast where we invited first-place abstract competition winner Michael Iacocca to present on his submission “Using NGS to detect CNVs in familial hypercholesterolemia”. Today, I’d like to announce our second-place winner, Nicole Weaver, Clinical Geneticist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Nicole adopted VarSeq into her research pipeline in 2015 and… Read more »

1st Place Abstract Competition Winner

         February 6, 2018
CNV calling - Abstract Winner

Our abstract competition is one of my favorite events because of the learning opportunity it provides our team. Each applicant’s submission tells us a unique story about how our software is helping users conduct their research. This year’s competition didn’t disappoint bringing a new round of fascinating studies to our attention. However, with all these great abstracts came the difficult… Read more »

10 Most Innovative Pharma and Life Sciences Solutions Providers 2018

         January 29, 2018
innovative

Awarded one of the top biotech companies Insight Success recently published its annual Pharma and Life Special Edition announcing the 10 most innovative solution providers of 2018. We are incredibly honored to have received this award and being recognized amongst the top biotech companies! You can access the publication featuring my interview with the editor here: http://www.insightssuccess.com/golden-helix-helping-researchers-clinicians-understand-role-cnvs-human-health-disease/. I have outlined some… Read more »

Robarts Research Institute & VS-CNV

         January 5, 2018

One of our main focuses in 2017 was VS-CNV which allows clinicians to directly call CNVs in target regions quicker, easier and more affordably than CMA or MLPA testing. Our clients at Robarts Research Institute shared their recent publication with me which confirms that our time and dedication to our CNV capabilities was well worth it. I am delighted to… Read more »

What to expect from Golden Helix in 2018

         January 2, 2018

First of all, I wish you a prosperous 2018 along with happiness and health for you and your loved ones. This next year comes with lots of anticipation. We at Golden Helix are looking forward to another year of growth and innovation. Over the last few years, we were able to build a large following of clients in the clinical space…. Read more »

2017-18 Abstract Competition Has Begun!

         December 5, 2017
Call for Abstracts

Golden Helix strives to enable precision medicine by developing powerful software to support researchers 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 ways to conduct a genomic analysis. I am pleased to announce that our 2017-18 Abstract Competition has officially begun! We would… Read more »

Reflecting on ASHG 2017

         October 26, 2017
ASHG 2017

We’ve returned from another successful year at ASHG and had an incredible time. I find the conference to be a terrific opportunity to connect with our customers, partners, and friends in the industry. This year’s Presidential Symposium was a true delight featuring a discussion of global health and genomics between two absolute legends in the health and science world: Bill Gates,… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 eBook

         September 5, 2017

Next-Gen Sequencing promised to be the ultimate paradigm when it comes to genetic research and clinical testing since it contains the complete genetic information. When it comes to the current reality in testing labs, there are still a number of additional testing paradigms used in an analysis, specifically, copy number variations. Among these, labs still widely use Chromosomal Microarrays and… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 – Part V

         August 22, 2017
Detection of CNVs

An Example of an Integrated Clinical Workflow for CNVs and SNVs In this blog series, I discuss the architecture of a state of the art secondary pipeline that is able to detect single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and copy number variations (CNVs) in one test leveraging next-gen sequencing. In Part I, we reviewed genetic variation in humans and looked at the key… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 – Part IV

         August 15, 2017
Detection of CNVs

Examples of CNV Calling What do CNV calls actually look like? What are some of the key metrics to determine an event? Part IV of the Secondary Analysis 2.0 blog series will answer these questions by walking through some examples of how our CNV caller, VS-CNV, identifies CNVs. Golden Helix integrates multiple metrics to determine if a CNV event is… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 – Part III

         August 8, 2017
Detection of CNVs

Detection of CNVs in NGS Data Our Secondary Analysis 2.0 blog series continues with Part III: Detection of CNVs in NGS Data. We will give you an overview of some design principles of a CNV analytics framework for next-gen sequencing data. There are a number of different approaches to CNV detection. The published algorithms share common strategies to solve the… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 – Part II

         August 1, 2017
Detection of CNVs

In this blog series, I will discuss the architecture of a state of the art secondary pipeline that is able to detect single nucleotide variations (SNV) and copy number variations (CNV) in one test leveraging next-gen sequencing. In Part I, we reviewed genetic variation in humans in general and looked at the key components of a systems architecture supporting this… Read more »

Secondary Analysis 2.0 – Part I

         July 18, 2017
Detection of CNVs

Human genetic variation makes us unique. On average, humans are to 99.9% similar to each other. Understanding in detail what the nature of the difference in our genetic make-up is all about allows us to assess health risks, and eventually enables Precision Medicine as we determine treatment choices. Furthermore, it enables scientists to better understand ancient human migrations. It gives… Read more »

Final thoughts on ESHG 2017

         June 6, 2017
ESHG

We are back from another exciting trip to ESHG, hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark last week. We were delighted by the number of researchers and clinicians we were able to connect with. Needless to say,  the weather was outstanding in Copenhagen, which made our stay even more pleasant! Even though this was a European event, it was great to be able to speak with… Read more »

Golden Helix announces Partnership with Sentieon

         May 1, 2017
Partnership with Sentieon

Today, we are happy to announce a multi-year partnership with Sentieon, a company that develops bioinformatics secondary analysis tools to process genomic data. This partnership will integrate Sentieon’s secondary analysis tools with Golden Helix software to provide users with a comprehensive solution for genomic data analysis. Sentieon’s suite of secondary analysis tools made the significant improvement in runtime over BWA-MEM, GATK,… Read more »

Final thoughts on ACMG 2017

         March 28, 2017
ACMG 2017

Last week was fast and furious for those of us who made it to Phoenix attending ACMG 2017. The event was exceptionally well attended, with great talks and sessions. Here are some of the highlights that are worth mentioning from our perspective. Numerous talks referenced how important the updated Exac/gnomAD database is for clinical NGS analysis. The new dataset includes… Read more »

PreventionGenetics adopts Golden Helix CNV analysis

         March 21, 2017
Partnership with Sentieon

Today, I am happy to announce the introduction of VS-CNV for Gene Panels and Exomes. We have developed this capability in partnership with PreventionGenetics. PreventionGenetics will use VarSeq CNV for analysis of gene panels, and in the future for exome sequencing. The software gives PreventionGenetics the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive CNV analysis on NGS data, in many cases eliminating the need… Read more »

Golden Helix Among Top Biotech Solutions

         February 28, 2017
top biotech solutions

CIO Review recently published its annual Biotech Technology Special Edition announcing the 20 most promising biotech technology solution providers. It is a great honor that Golden Helix has been named among the top 20 for the second year in a row! Please find my interview with the editor here: Spearheading Innovation in the Biotech Industry  We are very thankful for the hundreds of organizations and… Read more »

4th Annual Abstract Challenge Winners

         February 23, 2017
4th Annual Abstract Challenge

This year’s annual Abstract Challenge was once again a successful event. We want to thank all that participated. This year we had nearly 50 submissions and our decision was a difficult one. Here are the selected winners. This year, we had dual first place winners; Reza Sailani and Jingga Inlora of the Michael Snyder lab in the Department of Genetics at… Read more »