QIAGEN N.V.'s Ingenuity® Variant Analysis™ Selected for Translational Genomics by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

free biotech news Get the latest biotech news where you want it. Sign up for the free GenePool newsletter today!

NEW YORK and REDWOOD CITY, California and HILDEN, Germany, October 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• Mount Sinai collaboration with QIAGEN Center of Excellence in Biological Interpretation demonstrates translational value of high-quality analysis of gene variants in rare diseases

• Accuracy and ease of use for clinical and laboratory geneticists and other medical professionals are cited in selection of genomic analysis solutions from QIAGEN

• Medical school also will use Ingenuity Variant Analysis to train next generation of medical professionals in genome interpretation

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory and the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at Mount Sinai in New York City have adopted the Ingenuity® Variant Analysis™ solution for research and translational genomics applications related to characterizing and identifying rare diseases. Ingenuity Variant Analysis will also serve as the genome interpretation platform for training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai that gives researchers and future physicians the opportunity to sequence and perform detailed analyses of their own genomes.

QIAGEN’s Ingenuity Variant Analysis is a web-based software application that quickly filters genetic variants to identify those most likely to cause disease, providing researchers a powerful platform for efficiently evaluating data generated by high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. It is built on the Ingenuity Knowledge Base, the most extensive manually curated, integrated repository of genomic information, scientific literature, and public databases.

The Genetic Testing Lab and Icahn Institute chose Ingenuity Variant Analysis because of its accuracy and ease of use for clinical and laboratory geneticists and other professionals investigating links between known mutations and rare diseases, according to Eric Schadt, Ph.D., Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences, and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“In our efforts to provide answers to families who may have spent years on a frustrating and painful diagnostic odyssey, this ability to dramatically accelerate the process of getting to a medically relevant insight is invaluable,” Dr. Schadt said. “Our mission is to bring to bear as much information as possible to help each patient. The combination of Ingenuity Variant Analysis and the Ingenuity Knowledge Base is an essential part of achieving that goal.”

In addition to the translational genomics applications, research scientists and medical students at the Institute will also use Variant Analysis to perform detailed analyses of their own genomes.

“We are pleased to be working with Dr. Schadt and his team at the Icahn Institute as they roll out Variant Analysis for everything from physician-ordered genome tests to training the next generation of geneticists and clinicians,” said Douglas Bassett, Ph.D., Chief Scientific and Technical Officer at the QIAGEN Center of Excellence in Biological Interpretation.

Ingenuity Variant Analysis enables the analysis and interpretation of human sequencing data from large-scale whole genome, exome and targeted panel studies conducted with NGS technologies.

Identifying specific disease-causing variants from large-scale whole genome and exome studies, as well as from targeted panels, is difficult and time-consuming due to the large number of variants within these data sets and the inherent complexity of creating associations within human biological systems. The Variant Analysis application uses accurate, curated biological content in the Ingenuity Knowledge Base, plus many additional sources of variant-level content, to help researchers quickly sift through millions of variants and identify causal variants based upon known relationships with pathways, genes, biological processes, and diseases. Through share-and-publish features, scientists can upload sequence data and distribute them along with analyses to other team members or the broader research community.

Tracy Brandt, Ph.D., FACMG, Assistant Laboratory Director from the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory, will be demonstrating the lab’s use of Ingenuity Variant Analysis at the upcoming American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting in Boston on Thursday, October 24, 2013, at 12:30 p.m. in Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 051.

To learn more about Ingenuity Variant Analysis, see http://www.ingenuity.com/variants.

About QIAGEN Redwood City

Formerly Ingenuity Systems, QIAGEN’s Center of Excellence in Biological Interpretation is based in Redwood City, California. It is powered by Ingenuity® technologies and is the global leading provider of biomedical information and analysis solutions for the exploration, interpretation and analysis of complex biological systems in life science research and molecular diagnostics. Today QIAGEN’s Ingenuity solutions are used by tens of thousands of researchers and clinicians at hundreds of leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, diagnostic and clinical institutions worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com/ingenuity.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample & Assay Technologies that are used to transform biological materials into valuable molecular information. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue. Assay technologies are then used to make these isolated biomolecules visible and ready for interpretation. QIAGEN markets more than 500 products around the world, selling both consumable kits and automation systems to customers through four customer classes: Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (forensics, veterinary testing and food safety), Pharma (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of June 30, 2013, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,050 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC