Appistry, Inc. Enters Partnership With Washington University in St. Louis
Appistry to integrate Washington University in St Louis VarScan software into its GenomePilot™ solution for next-generation sequencing data analysis
ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Appistry, a leading provider of solutions that simplify the analysis of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Washington University in St. Louis.
“As one of the most highly referenced somatic variant callers in publications, VarScan has been a staple of our tumor-normal analysis pipelines since it was first validated”
Appistry will integrate the VarScan software, developed at the university’s McDonnell Genome Institute, for variant detection in massively parallel sequencing data with the company’s GenomePilot solution for next-generation sequencing data analysis in the clinical environment.
“NGS testing laboratories are looking to establish clinical genomics testing capabilities, which raises the bar on bioinformatics software and tools to a higher standard of performance, robustness, reliability, and reproducibility in order to achieve CAP/CLIA compliance,” said Dr. Trevor Heritage, vice president of strategy at Appistry. “We’re pleased to be integrating the high-quality VarScan software with the innovative, easy-to-use GenomePilot solution that for the first time enables NGS testing laboratories to leverage VarScan in high quality bioinformatics pipelines within regulated clinical sequencing and analysis workflows.”
“As one of the most highly referenced somatic variant callers in publications, VarScan has been a staple of our tumor-normal analysis pipelines since it was first validated,” said Dr. Benjamin Darbro, director of the Shivanand R. Patil Cytogenetics and Molecular Laboratory at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) and user of Appistry’s GenomePilot. “The inclusion of VarScan in GenomePilot enhances an already very comprehensive suite of tools, providing us even more confidence in our analysis of genomic scale sequencing data.”
VarScan is a highly accurate and efficient software for detecting variants in targeted, exome and whole genome resequencing data on Illumina, SOLiD, Life Technologies, Roche/454, and similar instruments. “VarScan uses a heuristic approach for variant calling that overcomes problems related to extreme read depth, pooled samples, contaminated, or impure samples,” said Dan Koboldt, analysis manager at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “Our comparisons, and those of independent groups, have shown that it outperforms other mutation callers, particularly for low frequency variants in high depth (>100x) samples.”
“By selecting Appistry’s GenomePilot as a distribution platform for VarScan, we are able to focus our scientific team on developing and validating innovative functionality that continues to improve and simplify genomic data analysis, “ said Paul Carter, business development director at the Office of Technology and Management of Washington University in St Louis. “Appistry’s easy-to-use solution and diverse deployment options through partnerships with Dell and Microsoft, make it easier for clinical labs to use VarScan within their clinical pipelines to analyze next-generation sequencing data.”
VarScan is available in the current release of GenomePilot.
About GenomePilot:
GenomePilot simplifies the analysis of next-generation sequencing data by integrating tools, data and processes behind an easy-to-use application that is executed on a patented high-performance computing infrastructure. Addressing a critical need in clinical sequencing and analysis workflows, GenomePilot enables more people to process and analyze raw sequencing data to identify variants of interest for interpretation.
About Appistry:
Appistry is a scientific software company that bridges the gap between genomic data and health outcomes by making next-generation sequencing analysis more approachable and actionable to improve clinical decisions. With roots in high-performance computing, big data, and life sciences we bring a unique level of expertise to helping our customers solve complex problems and transform data into actionable information.