PROVO, Utah, March 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Supporting the genomics research community and the growing number of clinicians utilizing genomic data is fundamental to the mission of Tute Genomics. As such, the fast growing company has recently taken another bold step toward making precision medicine a reality. Tute Genomics, along with Dr. Xiaoming Liu and his team at the University of Texas, have teamed up with Google to grant public access to a database of 8.5 billion annotations of genetic variants through Google Genomics.
"Nextgeneration sequencing has become more affordable than ever," remarked Reid Robison, MD MBA, and CEO of Tute Genomics. "The time is coming when genome sequencing will be part of routine clinical care, and open access to genetic variant databases is a necessary step in order to accelerate progress towards precision medicine."
By collaborating with Google Genomics, Tute Genomics is helping to streamline the annotation of genetic variants. Annotation is a process that involves identifying and describing gene products and then matching variants to public and/or private collections of genomic data. Variants that have previously been linked to inheritable disease are earmarked for further inspection, and then prioritized according to the likelihood of contributing to disease. Tute's database contains annotations for every single nucleotide variant (SNV) in the human genome. With this wealth of data at their disposal, researchers and clinicians will be able to use it in their everyday interactions with patients, making precision medicine a reality.
The goal of Google Genomics is to empower fast and actionable analyses of massive genomic datasets, which are becoming more common as the world enters this "terabyte" (and even "petabyte") era of genetic research. Google Genomics addresses this Big Data challenge by leveraging the search engine's massive cloud computing infrastructure to store, process, explore and share genetic data. The platform gives users unparalleled speed and power, with the ability to run multigigabyte queries against multiterabyte databases in seconds. When combined with Tute's donation of its unprecedented genetic knowledge base, it will enable researchers to reference and query their own samples and cohorts more easily and efficiently than ever before.
"The fields of genetics and genomics are amazingly collaborative and this collaboration frequently happens on a global scale," says David Mittelman, geneticist and CSO at Tute Genomics, "I am very impressed with Google's entry into genomic data management and I am thrilled that Tute Genomics is able to contribute data that will fuel even more collaboration amongst researchers and clinicians."
Progress in genetic research will accelerate as data is shared throughout research and clinical community; Tute Genomics is proud and excited to be part of this new frontier.
About Tute Genomics
Tute Genomics is a Utahbased company that is powering the world's genomic knowledge with a cloudbased solution for precision, genomeguided medicine. Tute provides a clinical genome interpretation platform that assists researchers in identifying disease genes and biomarkers, and assists clinicians/labs in performing genetic diagnosis and personalized therapeutics. Tute is built on the expertise that developed ANNOVAR, the most widely used genome annotation and interpretation software with over 1000 scientific citations. The genome revolution is here, and Tute envisions a future where genome sequencing is part of routine clinical care, with genomic data integrated into medical records where it is most useful and actionable, to give doctors and patients alike access to genomic information at their fingertips. Genomics is changing healthcare as we know it, and Tute is helping to shape the future of medicine: unlocking the genome, personalizing treatment, and powering discovery. To learn more please visit www.tutegenomics.com and follow us on twitter @TuteGenomics.