December 16, 2016
a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Consumer genomics firm Genos announced yesterday named four of its research partners, which are using the company’s newly launched whole-exome sequencing platform in various projects and clinical studies.
For $499, individuals can have their exomes sequenced from a saliva sample, then explore their genetic profiles online. Customers can also choose to share their data with academic and commercial researchers in exchange for compensation.
“Cultivating a community around genomics research promises to illuminate the genetic underpinnings of the human condition, including finding cures to our most elusive diseases,” Genos Co-Founder and CEO Mark Blumling said in a statement. “It also engages people in their own healthcare like never before. To realize this great potential, we must remove the barriers to accelerating research, and the only way to do that is by putting consent and control over personal genomics data where it belongs — in the hands of individuals.”
As part of the launch, Genos said that its platform is being used by several collaborators including NantBioScience, which is using it in a Phase I clinical trial for lymphoma and a Phase I study of a breast cancer vaccine; NantKwest, which is using the technology in a phase II study of a treatment for Merkel cell carcinoma; the Broad Institute as part of research into the genetic variants of the prion protein; and the Utah Foundation for Biomedical Research in a project looking at genetic variances of common neurological and psychiatric disorders to guide treatment.
“It is extraordinary that Genos will offer us an unbiased way to find mutations in genes dealing with autism and other neurodevelopment conditions, and we look forward to seeing what we are able to discover by using this platform,” Utah Foundation for Biomedical Research investigator Gholson Lyon said in the statement.
Launch of the Genos platform comes about a month after the company raised $6 million from NantOmics, a subsidiary of NantWorks.
