Tag Archives: Golden Helix

Functional Predictions & Conservation Scores in VSClinical

         May 17, 2018

In our previous webcast, we discussed the splice site algorithms for clinical genomics within VSClinical. We took it a step further in yesterday’s webcast and looked at the functional predictions and conservation scores. We had a great turnout for this event with lots of great questions from the attendees. I’d like to recap our Q&A for anyone else who might… Read more »

Top 10 Analytics Solution Providers – Pharma Tech Outlook

         May 15, 2018
Top 10

We are incredibly honored to be recognized as one of the Top 10 Analytics Solution Providers of 2018 by Pharma Tech Outlook. “Through innovative products, Golden Helix has been simplifying the clinical workflows and genomic testing for numerous labs. For instance, Prevention Genetics, a clinical testing laboratory offering genetic and DNA banking services with the largest menu of gene sequencing… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation: Part VII

         May 3, 2018
VSClinical algorithm

Streamlining the ACMG Guidelines and Providing Scoring Recommendations As we discussed in our recent webcast on VSClinical, the process of scoring the ACMG guidelines requires evaluating evidence for the connection between a variant and the disorder or condition being evaluated by the genetic test for an individual. These lines of evidence cover clinical presentation, gene function, bioinformatic annotations and in-silico… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation: Part VI

         May 1, 2018
VSClinical algorithm

Functional Predictions and Conservation Scores in VSClinical Several algorithms have been developed to predict the impact of amino acid substitutions on protein function and quantify conservation of nucleotide positions. These methods provide vital supporting evidence to clinicians when interpreting variants in accordance with the ACMG guidelines. The two most popular functional prediction algorithms are SIFT and PolyPhen2, while the most… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation: Part V

         April 26, 2018
VSClinical algorithm

Revisiting the Five Splice Site Algorithms used in Clinical Genetics Interpretation of variants in accordance with the ACMG guidelines requires that variants near canonical splice boundaries be evaluated for their potential to disrupt gene splicing [1]. The five most common tools for splice site detection are NNSplice, MaxEntScan, GeneSplicer, HumanSplicingFinder, and SpliceSiteFinder-like. Because these algorithms have been made easily accessible… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation: Part IV

         April 24, 2018
VSClinical algorithm

In the last installment of this series, I covered the basics of variant interpretation and how it fits into the genomic testing process. Now we can cover in more detail how VSClinical works, what algorithms and annotation sources power the recommendations and how the ACMG criteria are organized into useful categories. VSClinical is built to make the process of evaluating… Read more »

VSClinical Webcast Q&A

         April 20, 2018

This week we launched VSClincial with our first webcast to show our powerful new way to perform variant interpretation following the ACMG guidelines. Our audience asked a lot of great questions on the new product and I’d like to highlight a few here. Can VSClinical run on a laptop and/or a locked down environment? Like all of Golden Helix products, you have… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation: Part III

         April 19, 2018
VCF file format

Yesterday we launched VSClincial with our first webcast in what will be a series about this powerful new way to perform variant interpretation following the ACMG guidelines. In this post, I wanted to cover the motivation for VSClinical and how we curated and presented the 33 criteria from the ACMG Guidelines into an intuitive workflow with various bioinformatic evidence and… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation Based on ACMG Guidelines – Part II

         April 17, 2018
VarSeq annotations

We just came back from ACMG in North Carolina where we launched our new product VSClinical. The reception has been terrific and our booth has never been as frequented. We had record level visitors and demo presentations. So, what is all that buzz about this new product? Why do people care so much and how does it help a clinical… Read more »

See you at ACMG 2018

         April 9, 2018
ACMG

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the ACMG 2018. This year the Golden Helix Team will be represented by President & CEO, Andreas Scherer, Senior Product Engineer, Nathan Fortier, and myself, Marketing Manager, Delaina Hawkins. Make sure to stop by and say hello! You can find Golden Helix in booth #1306: We’ve put together a series of quick, in-booth demos… Read more »

Clinical Variant Interpretation Based on ACMG Guidelines – Part I

         April 9, 2018
VSClinical

The clinical interpretation of variants is time-consuming and requires attention to details. Clinicians are being asked to thoroughly review any variants that could potentially cause disease. There are guidelines for the interpretation of variants relating to hereditary risk, germline diagnostics, and molecular oncology panels, such as those issued by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), which are nationally and internationally… Read more »

New & Improved ClinVar Annotations

         March 13, 2018
ClinVar

ClinVar is the NCBI variant database that focuses on the categorizing of variant alleles and their interpretation from a clinical standpoint. This has made it a great resource, especially for those seeking variant allele disease correlations and pathogenicity. And this all worked fairly well, but it was changed… Previously, the ClinVar variant track annotation took some time to curate due… Read more »

Small-Lab VarSeq PowerPack

         March 6, 2018
VarSeq PowerPack

Ready to take your analysis to the next level? Our Small-Lab VarSeq PowerPack enables users to move their analysis from FASTQ to clinical reporting through one streamlined pipeline. Here’s what’s included: VarSeq VarSeq is an intuitive, integrated software solution for tertiary analysis. With VarSeq you can automate your workflows and analyze variants for gene panels, exomes, and whole genomes. VS-CNV… Read more »

Exclusive Look at Sentieon TNscope Q&A

         March 1, 2018
VS-CNV Annotations

Sentieon TNscope is a platform dedicated to the identification of tumor-normal somatic variants including single nucleotide variation (SNV), indel, as well as structure variations (SVs). In our recent webcast, Dr. Donald Freed, Bioinformatics Scientist at Sentieon, gave viewers an exclusive overview of the platform. The webcast generated a lot of great questions which I would like to share with you… Read more »

Third-Place Abstract Competition Winner

         February 22, 2018

I would like to congratulate our third and final winner of the 2017-18 Abstract Competition, Suxu Tan, a current PhD Student at Auburn University. Our first and second place winners, Michael Iacocca and Nicole Weaver, performed their research using VarSeq. Suxu, however, used SVS to conduct the research in his paper ‘GWAS analysis of QTL for resistance against Edwardsiella ictaluri in… Read more »

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 »

Using NGS to detect CNVs in familial hypercholesterolemia Q&A

         February 19, 2018

First-place Abstract Competition Winner, Michael Iacocca, shared his research with the Golden Helix Community during our February webcast ‘Using NGS to detect CNVs in familial hypercholesterolemia‘. In this webcast, he gave a great explanation on how our CNV caller aided his team in their research. If you were unable to join us for the event, you can find a recording… Read more »

How we’re curating OMIM: It’s not as easy as you think

         February 13, 2018

Relating human phenotypes to genotypes is the name of the game with OMIM, and as their website says, “is intended for use primarily by physicians and other professionals concerned with genetic disorders, by genetics researchers, and by advanced students in science and medicine.” The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (or OMIM) was originally created by Dr. Victor A. McKusick in… Read more »

Our top eBooks for genomics enthusiasts

         February 8, 2018
genomics ebooks

Our eBook series is made-up of short reads that cover a range of genomic industry topics. From simple bioinformatic concepts to the detailed structure of a genetic data warehouse, we have committed ourselves to provide the community with premium educational resources – at no cost! The series is constantly changing with revisions and new additions, but we’ve found our top… Read more »