San Diego, California / Houston, Texas – Baylor Genetics Selects Edico Genome’s DRAGEN to Improve Turnaround Times for Clinical Tests, Enabling Physicians and Genetic Counselors to be ‘Ready with Answers’ Faster Than Ever.
Baylor Genetics, a genetics laboratory specializing in the development and commercialization of the highest quality genetic testing and genomic lab testing, today announced it has selected Edico Genome’s DRAGEN™ Bio-IT Processor to accelerate test turnaround time in clinical settings. DRAGEN will support Baylor Genetics’ extensive testing portfolio, including its GeneAware reproductive carrier screen, rare disease diagnostic testing and whole exome sequencing test. Rapid turnaround times allow Baylor Genetics Laboratories’ physicians and genetic counselors to communicate results to patients faster, enabling treatment decisions to be made as quickly as possible.
“Baylor Genetics’ value proposition is getting its clients the right answers, right away,” said Ron Zoppo, Baylor Genetics’ Information Technology Director. “By implementing DRAGEN, we will combine the speed and accuracy of Edico’s platform with the deep and broad knowledge base of Baylor Genetics’ experienced genomic interpretations teams. Faster turnaround times and confident results mean satisfied customers. We’re excited to accelerate our testing efforts by partnering with Edico.”
Baylor Genetics, formerly Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories, a joint venture between Baylor College of Medicine and Miraca Holdings, Inc., recently launched the Ready With Answers initiative, which is committed to improving turnaround times, customer service support, user-friendly billing and innovative genetic counseling services. As part of the agreement, DRAGEN will be the primary platform for next-generation sequencing secondary analysis at Baylor Genetics.
“As genomics continues to expand into clinical settings, analyzing results rapidly and accurately is more critical than ever as patients and physicians rely on these answers to proceed with treatment decisions,” said Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Edico Genome. “Baylor Genetics’ commitment to accelerating test turnaround times will enable patients to receive the best care possible, and we are proud that DRAGEN’s speed and accuracy are improving the lives of patients as well as genetic counselors and physicians.”
DRAGEN is highly reconfigurable, using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to provide hardware-accelerated implementations of genome pipeline algorithms, such as BCL conversion, compression, mapping, alignment, sorting, duplicate marking and haplotype variant calling. The platform includes whole genome and exome, transcriptome, joint genotyping , methylation, and GATK pipelines, and allows users to develop custom algorithms as well as refine and improve existing pipelines. Users are able to develop custom algorithms as well as refine and improve existing pipelines. Updated versions are made available for customers through simple remote downloads.
Join Edico Genome, Baylor College of Medicine and other industry leaders for a discussion about barriers and breakthroughs in precision medicine and how they are using DRAGEN to support their work at the 2016 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7:15 a.m. PT. Register for the event by visiting Edico’s website.
About Edico Genome
Edico Genome has created the world’s first bioinformatics processor designed to analyze next-generation sequencing data, DRAGEN™. The use of next-generation sequencing is growing at an unprecedented pace, creating a need for a technology that can process this big data rapidly and accurately. Edico Genome’s computing platform has been shown to speed whole genome data analysis from hours to minutes, while maintaining high accuracy and reducing costs, enabling clinicians and researchers to reveal answers more quickly. For more information, visit www.EdicoGenome.com or follow @EdicoGenome.
