Validating an NGS workflow is an iterative process that begins with collaboration with personnel and planning protocols for the entire workflow from sample preparation, sequencing and variant calling, all the way to data analysis and reporting. At Golden Helix, while we do not provide pre-validated black-box workflows, we provide our customers with support to validate workflows in a transparent manner, and assist them in reaching production deadlines. This webcast will be led by members of our Field Application Scientist team, and we will explore some of the best practices for NGS workflow validation that we have observed and helped to implement based on real-world examples from our customer base. Key topics for discussion will include:
Sample preparation and collection of adequate case/control data
Designing a robust workflow with special considerations for single versus family analyses and phenotypic considerations
Generating the desired output for clinical or other reports
Real world NGS workflow validation strategies
Tune in for tips and strategies that you can deploy when designing and validating your NGS workflow.
A workshop is intended for those who are interested in and are in the planning stages of conducting an RNA-Seq experiment. Topics to be discussed will include:
* Experimental Design of RNA-Seq experiment
* Sample preparation, best practices
* High throughput sequencing basics and choices
* Cost estimation
* Differential Gene Expression Analysis
* Data cleanup and quality assurance
* Mapping your data
* Assigning reads to genes and counting
* Analysis of differentially expressed genes
* Downstream analysis/visualizations and tables
A workshop is intended for those who are interested in and are in the planning stages of conducting an RNA-Seq experiment. Topics to be discussed will include:
* Experimental Design of RNA-Seq experiment
* Sample preparation, best practices
* High throughput sequencing basics and choices
* Cost estimation
* Differential Gene Expression Analysis
* Data cleanup and quality assurance
* Mapping your data
* Assigning reads to genes and counting
* Analysis of differentially expressed genes
* Downstream analysis/visualizations and tables
Presentation carried out by Sergi Beltran Agulló, from the CNAG, at the course: Identification and analysis of sequence variants in sequencing projects: fundamentals and tools .
Presentation to cover the data and file formats commonly used in next generation sequencing (high throughput sequencing) analyses. From nucleotide ambiguity codes, FASTA and FASTQ, quality scores to SAM and BAM, CIGAR strings and variant calling format. This was given as part of the EPIZONE Workshop on Next Generation Sequencing applications and Bioinformatics in Brussels, Belgium in April 2016.
Visualizing the pan genome - Australian Society for Microbiology - tue 8 jul ...Torsten Seemann
Invited talk at the Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Conference 2014 on "FriPan" our tool for visualizing bacterial pan genomes across 10-100s of isolates.
Biotechnophysics: DNA Nanopore SequencingMelanie Swan
Biophysics (not merely bioengineering) is required to understand the fundamental mechanisms of biology in order to make technologies (bench and bioinformatic) for understanding them
It contains information about- DNA Sequencing; History and Era sequencing; Next Generation Sequencing- Introduction, Workflow, Illumina/Solexa sequencing, Roche/454 sequencing, Ion Torrent sequencing, ABI-SOLiD sequencing; Comparison between NGS & Sangers and NGS Platforms; Advantages and Applications of NGS; Future Applications of NGS.
VarSeq 2.4.0: VSClinical ACMG Workflow from the User PerspectiveGolden Helix
Earlier this year, we released VarSeq 2.3.0 which brought massive updates to our VSClinical AMP interface, such as enhanced capabilities for automation and analysis of structural variants in the cancer context. Naturally, we wanted to follow that up shortly with similar advancements to our VSClinical ACMG interface, and also make our customers doing germline variant analysis happy.
Our latest software release, VarSeq 2.4.0, was therefore focused on the advancements in VSClinical ACMG, namely support for importing and clinically evaluating structural variants, long read sequencing, advanced automation with evaluation scripts in VSClinical ACMG and end-to-end automation of ACMG workflows with VSPipeline. These new and improved features were discussed in a great webcast by our VP of Product and Engineering, Gabe Rudy, last month.
This upcoming webcast by our FAS team will be a user’s perspective on the new features in VarSeq 2.4.0 and VSClinical ACMG and how our tools can precisely and efficiently enable the full spectrum NGS analysis for Mendelian disorders.
VarSeq 2.4.0: VSClinical ACMG Workflow from the User PerspectiveGolden Helix
Earlier this year, we released VarSeq 2.3.0 which brought massive updates to our VSClinical AMP interface, such as enhanced capabilities for automation and analysis of structural variants in the cancer context. Naturally, we wanted to follow that up shortly with similar advancements to our VSClinical ACMG interface, and also make our customers doing germline variant analysis happy.
Our latest software release, VarSeq 2.4.0, was therefore focused on the advancements in VSClinical ACMG, namely support for importing and clinically evaluating structural variants, long read sequencing, advanced automation with evaluation scripts in VSClinical ACMG and end-to-end automation of ACMG workflows with VSPipeline. These new and improved features were discussed in a great webcast by our VP of Product and Engineering, Gabe Rudy, last month.
This upcoming webcast by our FAS team will be a user’s perspective on the new features in VarSeq 2.4.0 and VSClinical ACMG and how our tools can precisely and efficiently enable the full spectrum NGS analysis for Mendelian disorders.
Presentation carried out by Sergi Beltran Agulló, from the CNAG, at the course: Identification and analysis of sequence variants in sequencing projects: fundamentals and tools .
Presentation to cover the data and file formats commonly used in next generation sequencing (high throughput sequencing) analyses. From nucleotide ambiguity codes, FASTA and FASTQ, quality scores to SAM and BAM, CIGAR strings and variant calling format. This was given as part of the EPIZONE Workshop on Next Generation Sequencing applications and Bioinformatics in Brussels, Belgium in April 2016.
Visualizing the pan genome - Australian Society for Microbiology - tue 8 jul ...Torsten Seemann
Invited talk at the Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Conference 2014 on "FriPan" our tool for visualizing bacterial pan genomes across 10-100s of isolates.
Biotechnophysics: DNA Nanopore SequencingMelanie Swan
Biophysics (not merely bioengineering) is required to understand the fundamental mechanisms of biology in order to make technologies (bench and bioinformatic) for understanding them
It contains information about- DNA Sequencing; History and Era sequencing; Next Generation Sequencing- Introduction, Workflow, Illumina/Solexa sequencing, Roche/454 sequencing, Ion Torrent sequencing, ABI-SOLiD sequencing; Comparison between NGS & Sangers and NGS Platforms; Advantages and Applications of NGS; Future Applications of NGS.
VarSeq 2.4.0: VSClinical ACMG Workflow from the User PerspectiveGolden Helix
Earlier this year, we released VarSeq 2.3.0 which brought massive updates to our VSClinical AMP interface, such as enhanced capabilities for automation and analysis of structural variants in the cancer context. Naturally, we wanted to follow that up shortly with similar advancements to our VSClinical ACMG interface, and also make our customers doing germline variant analysis happy.
Our latest software release, VarSeq 2.4.0, was therefore focused on the advancements in VSClinical ACMG, namely support for importing and clinically evaluating structural variants, long read sequencing, advanced automation with evaluation scripts in VSClinical ACMG and end-to-end automation of ACMG workflows with VSPipeline. These new and improved features were discussed in a great webcast by our VP of Product and Engineering, Gabe Rudy, last month.
This upcoming webcast by our FAS team will be a user’s perspective on the new features in VarSeq 2.4.0 and VSClinical ACMG and how our tools can precisely and efficiently enable the full spectrum NGS analysis for Mendelian disorders.
VarSeq 2.4.0: VSClinical ACMG Workflow from the User PerspectiveGolden Helix
Earlier this year, we released VarSeq 2.3.0 which brought massive updates to our VSClinical AMP interface, such as enhanced capabilities for automation and analysis of structural variants in the cancer context. Naturally, we wanted to follow that up shortly with similar advancements to our VSClinical ACMG interface, and also make our customers doing germline variant analysis happy.
Our latest software release, VarSeq 2.4.0, was therefore focused on the advancements in VSClinical ACMG, namely support for importing and clinically evaluating structural variants, long read sequencing, advanced automation with evaluation scripts in VSClinical ACMG and end-to-end automation of ACMG workflows with VSPipeline. These new and improved features were discussed in a great webcast by our VP of Product and Engineering, Gabe Rudy, last month.
This upcoming webcast by our FAS team will be a user’s perspective on the new features in VarSeq 2.4.0 and VSClinical ACMG and how our tools can precisely and efficiently enable the full spectrum NGS analysis for Mendelian disorders.
VarSeq 2.6.0: Advancing Pharmacogenomics and Genomic AnalysisGolden Helix
In the rapidly evolving field of genomic analysis, staying current with the latest research, data sources, and test advancements is crucial. In this webinar, we review how VarSeq addresses the needs to stay on top of the latest with the release of VarSeq 2.6.0.
This release features an exome-optimized workflow for LOH and CNV calling as well as the introduction of VSPGx to produce pharmacogenomic reports for gene panels as well as exomes and genomes. With the recent release of gnomAD v4, we have had many requests for the integration of this large update to the most population frequency source. With VarSeq 2.6.0, the latest version of gnomAD has been integrated into VSClinical and the updated tracks spans beyond variants to cover CNVs and gene scores to update all your workflows to the latest data.
In this webcast, we will cover.
Improved VS-CNV performance and updated exome analysis workflows.
Pharmacogenomics in action: Utilizing VSPGx for exome and genome assessments.
gnomAD v4 in practice: Updated automated and manual variant interpretation workflows.
Join us for an insightful session on the latest VarSeq 2.6.0 features, bringing you the most up-to-date data and workflows for your genomic analysis.
The Wide Spectrum of Next-Generation Sequencing Assays with VarSeqGolden Helix
There is a strong motivation for labs to bring most, if not all, of their next-gen sequencing pipeline in-house. This is especially relevant for clinical applications where there is a need to validate any routine diagnostics when seeking to provide genetic results to patients. The entirety of the NGS pipeline is highly automatable and comprised of multiple stages but from the geneticist's point of view, the tertiary stage requires the lengthiest review. This stage is where the geneticist sifts through the massive collection of genetic variants to find and report on those most relevant to the patient or population. Unfortunately, the tertiary stage can be a fairly sophisticated process and there aren’t many tools on the market that handle it comprehensively and simply. Many of the tools that are available may have severe limitations on the scale of genomic data they can process or limitations on the types of NGS assays that can be designed. Moreover, their license model may be on an individual sample basis and present cost-benefit hurdles for the user, especially when sample load will inevitably increase. Fortunately, none of these assay or cost-based issues are relevant with Golden Helix products.
The goal of this webcast is to expose our viewers to the versatility that GHI VarSeq provides when constructing your dream NGS assay. This demonstration will provide examples of germline and somatic workflows for both single and multi-sample analysis for a variety of different disorders. Please join us and learn more about the analytical possibilities you can achieve when using the VarSeq software.
VarSeq 2.4.0: Structural Variants and Advanced Automation in VSClinical ACMGGolden Helix
Mendelian disorders can be caused by various classes of genetic mutations, from small variants to CNVs and even Structural Variants. With the introduction of VarSeq 2.4.0, we are excited to unveil the latest advancements in VSClinical ACMG, focusing on the integration of Structural Variants and the enhanced automation capabilities that streamline your analysis process.
Join us in this webcast as we dive into the following topics:
Integration of Structural Variants: Learn how VarSeq 2.4.0 enables you to import and incorporate Structural Variants into your VSClinical ACMG evaluations and reports, providing a comprehensive understanding of the genetic landscape.
Advanced Automation in the ACMG Interface: Discover how evaluation scripts can be employed to automate the VSClinical ACMG interface, allowing you to perform custom actions or eliminate manual steps, thus increasing efficiency and reducing the risk of errors.
End-to-End Automation: Explore how VSPipeline can fully automate your analysis process, from raw VCF to report, ensuring a streamlined and consistent workflow that saves time and resources.
Harnessing the Power of VSClinical: Gain insights into how VarSeq 2.4.0 empowers you to tackle complex genomic data, enabling faster and more accurate identification of Mendelian disorders and facilitating personalized patient care.
With the advanced capabilities of VarSeq 2.4.0 and VSClinical, you can now unlock a new level of precision and efficiency in diagnosing Mendelian disorders. This webcast will showcase the latest innovations in variant interpretation and automation, exemplifying why the VarSeq Clinical Suite is the premier NGS analysis platform for germline and cancer testing.
VarSeq 2.5.0: VSClinical AMP Workflow from the User PerspectiveGolden Helix
With our recent launch of VarSeq 2.5.0, our ability to expedite somatic analysis for NGS labs is more accessible than ever before. Our recent webcasts have shown our range of updates, including our new oncogenicity classifier and carrier status workflows:
Identifying Oncogenic Variants in VarSeq
VarSeq 2.5.0: Empowering Family Planning through Carrier Screening Analysis
In this user perspective webcast, we will highlight how the combination of our new oncogenicity classifier and the updates to our CancerKB database streamline the interpretation of oncogenic variants. In addition, as NGS labs progress from gene panels to WES analysis for ideal genomic signature generation, we will demonstrate how a VarSeq somatic workflow can scale with these increased scopes of data analysis with ease.
Our user perspective webcast will cover:
Application of virtual panels to WES tumor/normal workflows.
Use of the oncogenicity classifier to streamline filter chains.
Updates to our CancerKB database to include the CancerKB gene track.
Including parallel germline secondary findings for the whole NGS workflow.
Evaluating Cloud vs On-Premises for NGS Clinical WorkflowsGolden Helix
In the era where cloud-based solutions are the default for the modern office, it may not be obvious why many laboratories and testing centers choose to host their data and analysis pipelines on-premises or on self-managed cloud services. Next-generation sequencing enables a precision medicine approach to rare disease diagnostic and cancer therapeutics through its power to detect unique variants in individuals. This data is generated quickly and cheaply but requires a lot of disk space and processing power to arrive at clinically useful insights.
When providing a clinical lab service under a regulated environment: data security, long-term affordable storage, and versioning through locked-down pipelines are all factors that must go into the choice of whether to choose a hosted analytics platform versus on-premises solutions or self-managed cloud infrastructure.
Join us in this webinar as we cover:
The validation and regulatory requirements that inform infrastructure and hosting decisions for NGS labs
The cost structure of scaling NGS labs to exomes and genomes
Deployment and security architecture for on-premises and self-managed cloud infrastructure
Validating and versioning analysis pipelines with clinical tests through self-managed software lifecycles and versioned annotation sources
Cybersecurity, patient data privacy, and scalable unit economics play a bigger role than ever before in the planning of NGS lab’s infrastructure choices. We look forward to you joining us as we tackle the trade-offs and choices around these topics and how deployment flexibility is a core feature of the Golden Helix VarSeq Suite.
ACMG-Based Variant Classification with VSClinicalGolden Helix
Evaluating variants according to the ACMG guidelines can be an extensive process as it requires an in-depth understanding of all available criteria for any variant. Even the most adept clinicians familiar to the guidelines suffer from this tedious manual process and from the challenge of teaching these fundamentals to new technicians. VSClinical is an automated solution to the complex ACMG guidelines process. In this webcast, we will present how VSClinical follows the true-to-form ACMG classification rules. Additionally, users will discover the value of automating the ACMG guidelines to make variant classification consistent and simplify the interpretation process for those less familiar with ACMG criteria.
Integrating Custom Gene Panels for Variant InnovationsGolden Helix
The ability to use predefined sets of genes to isolate clinically relevant variants is an important aspect of clinical variant analysis. Golden Helix’s VarSeq product houses the tools, namely our Gene Panel Manager and Match Genes set of algorithms, that enable users to create and manage reusable gene lists within projects, incorporate the ACMG Secondary Findings v3.0 gene list for the reporting of incidental findings, make use of well validated publicly available gene panels with published evidence of disease associations and create gene panels based on specific disorders or phenotypes of interest. These capabilities were covered in a webcast “Creating and Managing Reusable Gene Lists with VSClinical” by Dr. Nathan Fortier our Director of Research. In the upcoming webcast, we will dive deeper into these capabilities, implementing our gene panel tools from the user’s perspective by focusing on two clinical use cases where custom virtual gene panels are particularly useful.
For the standard use case, users typically incorporate targeted gene panel-based data to hone in on any number of variants that fall within the scope of their targeted genes list. More recently, we have observed from the field application perspective, a trend among Golden Helix customers towards importing WES and WGS data followed by creating unique per sample gene panels. Therefore, the purpose of this webcast will be to showcase how simple it can be to construct and manage both styles of virtual gene panels within VarSeq in ways that will best suit the specific needs of your lab. We will share with you several clever shortcuts for users to implement filters on gene panels, to design and manage gene panels and calculate the coverage over these regions. We will also delve into the details of incorporating gene panel data into variant evaluation in VSClinical and bringing the relevant information into a final clinical report. Viewers tuning in to this webcast will be exposed to all the tools available in VarSeq for creating and managing their potential gene panel workflows.
From Panels to Genomes with VarSeq: The Complete Tertiary Platform for Short ...Golden Helix
From gene panels to whole genome, from short to long-read sequencing, the VarSeq suite is the solution for NGS analysis and reporting in a modern clinical lab. VarSeq handles the spectrum of variant types (SNV, Indel, CNV, Fusions) and provides automated classification and reporting capabilities following the ACMG and AMP guidelines. With our new PacBio partnership, we are more adaptable than ever with creating a spectrum of custom workflows to suit our unique user needs.
This webcast will review:
-Data analysis scaling from Gene Panel to Genome analysis with VarSeq and VSWarehouse.
-Analysis and annotation of SNVs, Indels, CNVs, and fusions.
-A close look at a PacBio long-read trio analysis.
Come join us for this showcase in modern VarSeq analysis capabilities.
Automated FASTQ to Reports with VarSeq Suite: A fast, flexible solutionGolden Helix
NGS tests in the clinic cover more use cases than ever and are increasingly complex to implement. This leads to an increase in time to validate and bring tests to production, impacting a lab’s ability to be economically viable and serve the needs of patients. Core to the complexity is the expansion of tests to include multiple types of biomarkers and variants, including CNVs, gene fusions, and genomic signatures. The bioinformatics demands of these pipelines require powerful tools with built-in capabilities to handle the diverse needs of modern NGS tests and to integrate and automate the disparate steps leading to clinical insight.
Join us in this webinar as we explore the VarSeq suites’ capabilities as a fast, modular, and highly configurable solution for variant analysis and interpretation. We will cover:
The bioinformatic diversity of comprehensive genetic tests with NGS
Automation of FASTQ to clinical reports without losing control over the results of a test
Leverage built-in and custom automation capabilities in the VSClinical cancer guideline workflow to reduce work and improve accuracy
Reporting the relevant diagnostic and therapeutic findings for a patient based on the raw genomic data of modern NGS tests requires both human experience and advanced analysis software. We hope you can join us as we unpack how automation is a critical part of implementing NGS tests and furthering the application of precision medicine.
Building Secure Analysis and Storage Systems with Golden HelixGolden Helix
Genetic testing labs deal with personal data in categories with the highest level of security requirements: personal identity and medical records. Given the liability and risk associated with a breach of this secure information, it is not surprising that many labs and institutes that aggregate genomic data prefer if not require on-premise analysis and storage solutions.
Golden Helix is in a unique position to provide completely on-premise analysis solutions with a history of building analysis software from the ground-up on first principles and a focus on providing integrated, turn-key solutions. This allows for a licensing model based on training and supporting users, not tracking per-sample usage of cloud resources. As the regulatory environment around the world strengthens the privacy rights of individuals and the outcry around data breaches raises the stakes for building a secure system, we have developed a number of best practices for building secure, offline genomic analysis pipelines. Watch as we cover:
- Building a FASTQ to clinical reports pipeline behind a firewall
- On-premise analysis, warehouse and data servers independent of the internet
- Single sign-on based on local credential systems and without internet access
- Storage and network considerations for the analysis of patient-linked data
- Choose when to update and validate new pipelines, data sources and software versions
We hope you enjoy as we review the capabilities and best practices in building the most secure environment for hosting the analytics behind your precision medicine tests.
Performing a Trio Analysis in VSClinicalGolden Helix
We recently have exposed the powerful application of our newly released product, VSClinical and the included ACMG Guidelines. Our previous webcasts covered some basics on new algorithms and annotations behind the variant scoring and classification. Taking a step back for a moment, there are many long-time VarSeq users are familiar with our Trio template that comes packaged with the software. But, how does the Trio analysis fit into VSClinical?
In this webcast, we are going to explore some modifications to our baseline trio template showing how to incorporate the ACMG classification results into the various workflows. This will include capturing de novo, compound heterozygous, and dominant heterozygous variants. We will score criteria related to variant frequency, gene impact, and available study information. Additionally, we will also investigate the clinical section of the ACMG guideline tool to see how to leverage the inheritance and allelic state of each variant. After this webcast, the user will discover new avenues of examining trio data by utilizing the ACMG classifier to improve upon one of our classic templates.
tranSMART Community Meeting 5-7 Nov 13 - Session 3: transmart’s application t...David Peyruc
tranSMART Community Meeting 5-7 Nov 13 - Session 3: tranSMART’s Application to Clinical Biomarker Discovery Studies in Sanofi
Sherry Cao, Sanofi
This presentation will discuss challenges we are encountering in clinical biomarker discovery
study and how we are using tranSMART to help to address them.
Presentation by Justin Zook at GRC/GIAB ASHG 2017 workshop "Getting the most from the reference assembly and reference materials" on benchmarks for indels and structural variants.
Introducing VarSeq Dx as a Medical Device in the European UnionGolden Helix
A transition period regarding in vitro medical device (IVD) regulation in the European Union (EU) is upon us. The former IVDD regulations are phasing out and IVDR 2017/746 has already taken its place as the acting regulation for IVD manufacturers but also lab developed tests (LDTs) and health institutions. In our upcoming webcast we will talk about the roles and significance of IVDR and ISO 13485 certification for clinical labs and for Golden Helix as a medical device manufacturer.
Join us as we will introduce VarSeq 2.6.1 complete with Dx Mode, which offers the use of VarSeq as CE marked medical device. Even more we will also present strategies to facilitate the transition of Golden Helix customers to operate in accordance with IVDR.
Introducing VSPGx: Pharmacogenomics Testing in VarSeqGolden Helix
Inter-individual variability in drug response poses a significant challenge for clinicians, with much of this variability resulting from inherited genetic differences. While the field of pharmacogenomics (PGx) can provide powerful insights into how genomic factors affect drug response, the implementation of PGx testing in the clinic is hampered by the difficulty of translating genetic test results into actionable recommendations. In this webcast, we will discuss VarSeq’s new PGx testing capabilities, including the ability to identify actionable pharmacogenomic diplotypes and generate clinical reports.
In this webcast you will learn:
-How to identify pharmacogenomic diplotypes and drug recommendations from NGS data.
-How to incorporate externally called CNVs and SVs into your PGx annotations.
-How to generate customizable PGx reports from these annotations.
Analyzing Performance of the Twist Exome with CNV Backbone at Various Probe D...Golden Helix
Clinical Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) offers a high diagnostic yield test by detecting pathogenic variants in all coding genes of the human genome. WES is poised to consolidate multiple genetic tests by accurately identifying Copy Number Variation (CNV) events, typically necessitating microarray analyses. However, standard commercial exome kits are limited to targeting exon coding regions, leaving significant gaps in coverage between genes which could hinder comprehensive CNV detection.
Addressing the need for comprehensive coverage, Twist Bioscience has developed an enhanced Twist Exome 2.0 Plus Comprehensive Exome Spike-in capture panel with added "backbone" probes. These probes target common SNPs polymorphic in multiple populations and are evenly distributed in the intergenic and intronic regions, with three varying densities at 25kb, 50kb, and 100kb intervals. In this webcast, we discuss the combined efficacy of the backbone-probe enhanced exome capture kit and VS-CNV in identifying known CNVs using the Coriell CNVPANEL01 reference set.
This webcast reviews:
-The sensitivity rate for the detection of known CNV events at all three probe densities.
-The impact of best-practice quality metrics and filters on sensitivity.
-How VarSeq’s CNV annotation capabilities can be leveraged to identify likely pathogenic CNVs.
-The interpretation of clinically relevant CNVs using VSClinical.
Enhance Genomic Research with Polygenic Risk Score Calculations in SVSGolden Helix
Golden Helix’s SNP & Variation Suite (SVS) has been used by researchers around the world to do trait analysis and association testing on large cohorts of samples in both humans and other species. The latest SVS release introduces a significant leap in capabilities, with a focus on advanced Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) calculations. PRS has become a fundamental tool in genomic research, enabling the identification of correlations between genotypic variants and phenotypes across large populations.
This enhancement is particularly relevant for researchers working on large cohorts and meta-analysis. Please join us as we explore:
-SVS Workflow Review: A review of the extensive capabilities of SVS to meaningful insights from large cohorts and association test result datasets
-Computing Polygenic Risk Scores: An overview of the PRS capabilities in SVS, including Clumping and Thresholding and creation of multiple PRS models
-Evaluating and Applying PRS: Evaluating PRS models in-sample and out-of-sample and applying PRS models to perform trait prediction
-Future Implications: Brief exploration of how these advancements in SVS could influence future genomic research.
This webcast will explore how SVS facilitates the creation of multiple PRS models from large-scale genomic data, such as those obtained from extensive cohort studies or comprehensive meta-analyses. Join us to discover how these latest updates in SVS are supporting large-scale genomic research.
VarSeq 2.5.0: Empowering Family Planning through Carrier Screening AnalysisGolden Helix
Over the past 50 years, partners with potential genetic risks have sought advanced genetic testing to guide family planning decisions. Carrier screening is a valuable tool in genetics and reproductive medicine that helps individuals and families make informed choices about family planning and reduce the risk of passing autosomal recessive or X-linked genetic disorders to their children. Several carrier screening panels are available for Next-Generation Sequencing platforms, ranging from those targeting prevalent disorders to expanded ones covering various inherited conditions. Since NGS offers an affordable, high-throughput solution, carrier screening has become a common practice in healthcare systems.
We are excited to announce that VarSeq and VSClinical now support a multi-sample carrier screening workflow. VarSeq 2.5.0 unlocks the ability to:
-Filter variants between samples and identify genes in which a variant from each partner sample is present.
-Apply the ACMG Carrier Screening gene panel or generate customized carrier screening panels to include in your analysis.
-Evaluate partnered samples side-by-side in a single VSClinical evaluation.
-Generate a combined sample clinical report that includes reproductive risk calculations for the most prevalent autosomal recessive and X-linked diseases.
Identifying Oncogenic Variants in VarSeqGolden Helix
The interpretation of somatic variants can be a challenging process. While AMP Guidelines provide detailed rules for accessing the clinical evidence associated with a specific variation, they do not specify criteria for determining if a variant is likely to be a driver mutation, which generates functional changes that enhance tumor cell proliferation. In this webcast, we will discuss a new VarSeq algorithm for estimating the oncogenicity of a variant. This will include a deep dive into our oncogenicity scoring system and a discussion of the various criteria used to distinguish driver mutations from benign variations and variants of uncertain significance.
What you will learn in this webcast:
-How to use the scoring algorithm to identify variants with evidence of oncogenicity
-Which criteria are used to assess a variant's oncogenicity
-How to evaluate the oncogenicity of a variant in VSClinical
Prenatal Genetic Screening with VarSeqGolden Helix
Our past webcast explored the current approaches for screening and diagnosis of genetic disorders in prenatal testing. While the methods available at the time were robust, they were severely limited, creating a need for a higher diagnostic yield and more efficient analysis for a wider range of genetic tests. The solution proposed was to improve and simplify prenatal screening and diagnosis with whole exome sequencing (WES).
During that webcast, we highlighted the advantages of WES over traditional methods such as karyotyping and chromosomal microarray, including improved accuracy, granularity, and cost-effectiveness. We also emphasized the potential of WES to expand diagnosis for many other adverse maternal-fetal complications beyond the large aneuploidy events previously covered. However, there was still an intimidation factor when it came to the massive data output from the exome. Fortunately, Golden Helix provided the necessary tools to build and standardize these genetic assays, simplifying the analytical process while leveraging increased diagnostic output. We explored our VarSeq software to demonstrate some example workflows of cases positive for Trisomy 21, an exon loss in DMD related to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and detection of a single base change resulting in a LOF variant in RUNX1 relevant to hereditary leukemia.
Our goal was to expose our viewers to the methods of conquering this vast NGS-based data and play a role in dissolving any feeling of intimidation. Overall, exome sequencing has the potential to vastly improve diagnostic outcomes and widen discoveries in the research related to prenatal testing, and Golden Helix products are designed to facilitate this process.
Maximizing the Benefits of Comprehensive Genomic Testing in Cancer Care with ...Golden Helix
Comprehensive genomic testing via next generation sequencing (NGS) is being increasingly adapted as part of cancer care in conjunction with molecular and immunohistochemical tests. Comprehensive genomic profiling potentially expands the number of targeted therapies that are available to patients, improves patient diagnosis and prognosis, and increases the number of clinical trials that are relevant to patients. However, with these advancements come challenges such as gaps in expertise resulting in inadequate efforts to interpret genomic data accurately and efficiently, poorly coordinated efforts to implement precision care, patients being diagnosed and treated despite inadequate access to relevant information and subsequent lack of patient exposure to all available treatment options.
Golden Helix CancerKB v2.0 provides a means of closing the gap, whether you're a beginner who is trying to capture the vast amount of knowledge in the cancer field or an expert who has high sample volume AND needs to keep up with the ever-evolving knowledge of Tier II and III variants. In this webcast, we will discuss and apply Golden Helix CancerKB in the context of cancer precision medicine. Golden Helix CancerKB is systematically curated and reviewed by experts in the field and contains information about cancer genes, biomarkers, and treatments generated from several trusted cancer resources. With VarSeq 2.3.0’s added support for comprehensive cancer genomic profiling tests, Golden Helix CancerKB has expanded to include interpretations for genomic signatures, combination biomarkers, and more investigational (tier II) biomarkers, among several other additions that will be discussed. With the Golden Helix CancerKB database, users will experience a streamlined automatic matching of biomarkers to available drugs and trials which ultimately saves users massive amounts of time and effort while reducing the possibility for errors.
A User’s Perspective: Somatic Variant Analysis in VarSeq 2.3.0Golden Helix
VarSeq 2.3.0 facilitates the evaluation of a multitude of somatic genomic variations with a more refined user interface to streamline variant evaluation. Our recent webcasts have shown the full range of these newly developed upgrades:
VarSeq 2.3.0: Supporting the Full Spectrum of Genomic Variation
VarSeq 2.3.0: New TSO-500 and Genomic Signature Support in VSClinical AMP
Now, we are showing it all in action from the user’s perspective. This webcast will provide a comprehensive demonstration of performing somatic variation analysis and reporting. We will review how to use workflow automation to expedite the NGS project creation process and report rendering. We will also demonstrate the streamlined capture of knowledge during variant evaluation by leveraging our clinical expert-curated interpretations with the Golden Helix Cancer Knowledge Base (CancerKB).
We hope you will join us to see VarSeq 2.3.0 from a user’s perspective, covering:
-Somatic variant workflows: necessary algorithms and filtering strategies
-Import of all relevant biomarker and genomic signatures data from TSO-500
-Review content and value of clinically curated interpretations and treatments with CancerKB
-Interpretation of structural variants in the VSClinical AMP Guidelines workflow
-Workflow automation with VSPipeline
VarSeq 2.3.0: Supporting the Full Spectrum of Genomic VariationGolden Helix
Next Generation Sequencing allows for the detection of a wide variety of genomic alterations. This includes small mutations, copy number variants and complex rearrangements. However, it can be difficult to annotate, filter, and interpret these alterations.
As part of our VarSeq 2.3.0 release, we have greatly simplified this process by allowing you to import, annotate, and filter mutations across all spectrums of genomic variation. This supports concurrent importation of small variants and CNVs as well as complex rearrangements. This release also includes strong support for structural variant annotation, filtering, and interpretation, including structural variant effect prediction. After filtering is complete, any clinically relevant structural variants can be interpreted with the VSClinical AMP Guidelines workflow and included in the final clinical report.
Come join us for this webcast to discuss VarSeq’s enhanced import and annotation capabilities, including:
Concurrent importation of variants CNVs and complex rearrangements
Improved multi-threaded import which dramatically speeds up the importation of large VCFs
Annotation of structural variants and prediction of effect
Interpretation of structural variants in the VSClinical AMP Guidelines workflow
Support for visualization and use of CRAM files as input for computing coverage statistics
VarSeq 2.3.0: New TSO-500 and Genomic Signature Support in VSClinical AMPGolden Helix
Precision medicine for cancer is rapidly accelerating because of the development and approval of targeted molecular therapies. These therapies require new genomic biomarkers as an indication for use, and require evaluating additional mutation types that are available in comprehensive genomic profiling assays as well as the small variants detected by Next-Generation Sequencing gene panels.
We are excited to announce VarSeq 2.3.0 which will update the VSClinical AMP workflow to meet the growing needs of labs conducting comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) of tumors. This includes built-in support for the Illumina TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO-500) kit as well as similar kits from other vendors. The VSClinical AMP workflow has also gained native support for the bioinformatic outputs of CGP kits. Join us to learn about comprehensive genomic profiling in cancer, specifically:
Evaluation and clinical reporting of genomic signatures such as Microsatellite (MSI), Tumor mutation burden (TMB), PD-L1, Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) statuses, and more.
Built-in TSO-500 import and expandable import capabilities for new genomic data types through the new advanced workflow scripting system.
Golden Helix CancerKB updates with report-ready genomic-signature interpretations written for approved therapies as well as gene interpretations for all 500 genes of the TSO-500 panel. In addition, CancerKB scopes have been extended to reference multiple relevant biomarkers in a single interpretation, capture approved therapies at the tumor type level, and include interpretations for clinically relevant negative findings.
Expanded clinical trial support to include international trials and the ability to search within proximity of European postal codes. VSClinical is accessing all active studies in AACT/ClinicalTrials.gov wherein users can search and select trials based on relevant drugs, biomarkers, and the geographic distance to the patient or testing site.
VarSeq 2.3.0 will deliver powerful capabilities for genomic profiling in cancer, enabling a new level of personalized and effective care for your patients. We look forward to demonstrating these updates and Golden Helix’s continued innovation making the VarSeq Clinical Suite the NGS analysis platform of choice for germline and cancer testing.
Single Sample and Family Based Genome Analysis With VarSeqGolden Helix
One major hurdle facing medicine is the need to quickly identify and assess the genetic components contributing to rare diseases. It has been estimated that nearly 350 million people suffer from rare diseases, 140 million of which are children, of whom ~30% do not live past their fifth birthday1,2. The specific issue to overcome is reducing morbidity by facilitating rapid diagnosis and treatment. Fortunately, the cost of whole genome sequencing has dropped below the $1000 mark, which not only makes the NGS approach more affordable but has become the status quo method of comprehensive diagnosis for these rare disorders. Currently, there are limited options in the market when it comes to quality software that can scale to this size of data and handle variant processing and evaluation in a timely fashion. Fortunately, Golden Helix has sought to set the market standard for top-quality NGS analysis with our bioinformatic software VarSeq. The focus of this webcast will be to explore example workflows tailored for rare disorders and elaborate on how best to expedite the NGS pipeline process with our command-line tool VSPipeline.
During the webcast, we will address the following:
Customizing clinically validated NGS workflows with VarSeq for both single sample and trios
Demonstrating the automation of ACMG-based guideline review in the VSClinical variant interpretation hub and rendering of customized clinical reports
Expediting the NGS workflow via Golden Helix command-line tool VSPipeline
We look forward to you joining us for our presentation, where we can demonstrate the value of our products when building your next-gen workflows. Ultimately, we wish to diminish the intimidation of genome workflow design and leave our future customers feeling confident that there is capable software to suit their needs.
Bick D, Jones M, Taylor SL, et al. Case for genome sequencing in infants and children with rare, undiagnosed or genetic disease. J Med Genet 2019; 56:783-791.
Owen M, Lefebvre S, Hansen C, et al. An automated 13.5 hour system for scalable diagnosis and acute management guidance for genetic diseases. Nat Commun 2022; 13: 4057. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31446-6
User perspective for somatic variant analysis in VSClinical AMPGolden Helix
Somatic analysis is a complex and precise process that is constantly evolving. As the volume of available data and the accessibility of sequencing technology increase, so too does the value of a versatile, well-vetted, and efficient workflow solution. In this webcast, we will take a deep dive into the current state of our AMP interpretation software and explore various ways to optimize workflows. For anyone from grizzled VarSeq veterans to those seeing our software for the first time and labs of any size, we will provide a practical overview of our somatic analysis capabilities and how those capabilities scale with improving technology.
Throughout this webcast we will be discussing the following:
- Universal principles of somatic workflows, providing baseline recommendations
- Specific tumor-normal and somatic-only use cases
- VSClinical AMP interpretation hub and some variants of interest
- Opportunities for automation and how to decrease time to report for increased throughput
Join us as we show off the versatility and scalability of our AMP interpretation capabilities!
Maximizing Profitability in your NGS Testing LabGolden Helix
The automation of clinical NGS workflows provides a number of important benefits for labs. Automation reduces the time required to produce a clinical report, mitigates the possibility of human error, and improves the precision of clinical results. In turn, these benefits create higher profitability from a P&L perspective.
Golden Helix software is designed to meet these needs by automating the full analysis workflow from sequencer to clinical report on a fixed annual subscription model. We are looking forward to discussing the best practices of maximizing profitability in your NGS testing lab and how Golden Helix supports these efforts.
Join us in this webinar as we cover how to develop repeatable cancer and germline interpretation workflows that scale from panels to whole exomes and genomes.
Handling a Variety of CNV Caller Inputs with VarSeqGolden Helix
VarSeq has become renowned for the accuracy of its CNV Caller, and the ease with which VSClinical takes the user through CNV evaluation. Cited in many publications, this well-validated tool brings our customers the ability to run both variant and CNV interpretations in one program, on data ranging from Gene Panels to whole genomes. What is less well known about CNV analysis through VarSeq, is that our users are not only limited to CNVs called through our software. VarSeq CNV is able to import CNVs in several file formats (VCFs, text, or tsv) generated by a wide variety of secondary callers, allowing the user to analyze their externally derived data. In this webcast, we will take you through the basics of CNV analysis with both the VarSeq CNV caller and from several common external CNV callers.
Join us in this webinar as we cover:
Leveraging the Copy Number Probability and Segregation Algorithm to add power to a CNV Trio workflow.
Importing externally called CNVs.
Expediting the path to analysis with CNV specific templates.
Utilizing the auto-recommendations to efficiently analyze the pathogenicity of several CNV calls and generate clinical reports.
As our users have come to know, VarSeq serves as a hub for variant annotation and the full interpretation/classification of germline (ACMG) and somatic (AMP) variants. Whether direct annotation or backend variant evidence is being presented to the user via VSClinical for the interpretation process, users greatly benefit from the hosted variant databases being available directly from VarSeq. Our team has automated much of the curation process and hosts the ongoing updates to these tracks so that users no longer suffer manual review of each database via the web or manual curation efforts. Useful databases include ClinVar and ClinGen for classification submissions, gnomAD exomes/genomes for filtering out common variants in the population, RefSeq for gene impact and sequence ontology assessment, and OMIM for phenotypic information. Obviously, there is a large collection of databases out there, and not all of them make it into our automated queue. However, GHI supports the utilization of custom databases in our software. This webcast will expose features of custom database curation/utilization in VarSeq to optimize your NGS workflows even further.
During the presentation, we will discuss many different approaches with custom annotations, including:
Interval Tracks: Bed files defining target regions for coverage calculations and CNV detection.
Assessment catalogs: record keeping of variant classification/interpretations in VSClinical.
Frequency catalogs: approaches to capture all variant allele frequencies at a project level and cohort level with VSWarehouse.
Automating Clinical Workflows with the VarSeq SuiteGolden Helix
The automation of clinical NGS workflows provides a number of important benefits. Automation reduces the time required to produce a clinical report, mitigates the possibility of human error, and improves the precision of clinical results. In this webcast, we will discuss how the VarSeq Suite can be leveraged to automate the full analysis workflow from sequencer to clinical report. Join us as we demonstrate how VarSeq’s automation capabilities can enable your laboratory to:
Automatically perform secondary analysis when a new sequence run is complete
Go from FASTQ to BAM and high-quality variants in VCFs using Sentieon
Automatically start VSPipeline to go from raw VCFs to candidate variants
Compute coverage and call CNVs alongside small variants with VS-CNV
Efficiently interpret a small set of annotated candidate variants and CNVs
Draft reports with VarSeq and VSClinical
Join us as we discuss the automation of the clinical analysis process for NGS genetic tests from FASTQ to Clinical Reports using the VarSeq Suite and discover how your laboratory’s NGS workflows may benefit from these automation capabilities.
Golden Helix’s SNP & Variation Suite (SVS) has been used by researchers around the world to do association testing and trait analysis on large cohorts of samples in both humans and other species. As samples size increase to do population-scale genomics, the analysis methods need to adapt to remain computable on your analysis workstation.
One of the most popular methods for determining population structure in SVS is Principal Component Analysis. In this webcast, we review the fundamentals of this methodology, as well as how we have advanced the state of the art by implementing a new “Large Data PCA” capability in SVS, handling over 10 times as many samples as previously possible at a fraction of the time. Join us as we cover:
A review of SVS association testing and trait analysis capabilities
Usage of Principle Component Analysis to discern population structure
Scaling PCA beyond the limitations of computer hardware Other SVS improvements based on ongoing feedback from the user community
SVS continues to move forward as a flexible and powerful tool to perform genotype and Large-N variant analysis. We hope you enjoy this webcast highlighting the exciting new features and select enhancements we have made.
Lung Cancer: Artificial Intelligence, Synergetics, Complex System Analysis, S...Oleg Kshivets
RESULTS: Overall life span (LS) was 2252.1±1742.5 days and cumulative 5-year survival (5YS) reached 73.2%, 10 years – 64.8%, 20 years – 42.5%. 513 LCP lived more than 5 years (LS=3124.6±1525.6 days), 148 LCP – more than 10 years (LS=5054.4±1504.1 days).199 LCP died because of LC (LS=562.7±374.5 days). 5YS of LCP after bi/lobectomies was significantly superior in comparison with LCP after pneumonectomies (78.1% vs.63.7%, P=0.00001 by log-rank test). AT significantly improved 5YS (66.3% vs. 34.8%) (P=0.00000 by log-rank test) only for LCP with N1-2. Cox modeling displayed that 5YS of LCP significantly depended on: phase transition (PT) early-invasive LC in terms of synergetics, PT N0—N12, cell ratio factors (ratio between cancer cells- CC and blood cells subpopulations), G1-3, histology, glucose, AT, blood cell circuit, prothrombin index, heparin tolerance, recalcification time (P=0.000-0.038). Neural networks, genetic algorithm selection and bootstrap simulation revealed relationships between 5YS and PT early-invasive LC (rank=1), PT N0—N12 (rank=2), thrombocytes/CC (3), erythrocytes/CC (4), eosinophils/CC (5), healthy cells/CC (6), lymphocytes/CC (7), segmented neutrophils/CC (8), stick neutrophils/CC (9), monocytes/CC (10); leucocytes/CC (11). Correct prediction of 5YS was 100% by neural networks computing (area under ROC curve=1.0; error=0.0).
CONCLUSIONS: 5YS of LCP after radical procedures significantly depended on: 1) PT early-invasive cancer; 2) PT N0--N12; 3) cell ratio factors; 4) blood cell circuit; 5) biochemical factors; 6) hemostasis system; 7) AT; 8) LC characteristics; 9) LC cell dynamics; 10) surgery type: lobectomy/pneumonectomy; 11) anthropometric data. Optimal diagnosis and treatment strategies for LC are: 1) screening and early detection of LC; 2) availability of experienced thoracic surgeons because of complexity of radical procedures; 3) aggressive en block surgery and adequate lymph node dissection for completeness; 4) precise prediction; 5) adjuvant chemoimmunoradiotherapy for LCP with unfavorable prognosis.
Title: Sense of Taste
Presenter: Dr. Faiza, Assistant Professor of Physiology
Qualifications:
MBBS (Best Graduate, AIMC Lahore)
FCPS Physiology
ICMT, CHPE, DHPE (STMU)
MPH (GC University, Faisalabad)
MBA (Virtual University of Pakistan)
Learning Objectives:
Describe the structure and function of taste buds.
Describe the relationship between the taste threshold and taste index of common substances.
Explain the chemical basis and signal transduction of taste perception for each type of primary taste sensation.
Recognize different abnormalities of taste perception and their causes.
Key Topics:
Significance of Taste Sensation:
Differentiation between pleasant and harmful food
Influence on behavior
Selection of food based on metabolic needs
Receptors of Taste:
Taste buds on the tongue
Influence of sense of smell, texture of food, and pain stimulation (e.g., by pepper)
Primary and Secondary Taste Sensations:
Primary taste sensations: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami
Chemical basis and signal transduction mechanisms for each taste
Taste Threshold and Index:
Taste threshold values for Sweet (sucrose), Salty (NaCl), Sour (HCl), and Bitter (Quinine)
Taste index relationship: Inversely proportional to taste threshold
Taste Blindness:
Inability to taste certain substances, particularly thiourea compounds
Example: Phenylthiocarbamide
Structure and Function of Taste Buds:
Composition: Epithelial cells, Sustentacular/Supporting cells, Taste cells, Basal cells
Features: Taste pores, Taste hairs/microvilli, and Taste nerve fibers
Location of Taste Buds:
Found in papillae of the tongue (Fungiform, Circumvallate, Foliate)
Also present on the palate, tonsillar pillars, epiglottis, and proximal esophagus
Mechanism of Taste Stimulation:
Interaction of taste substances with receptors on microvilli
Signal transduction pathways for Umami, Sweet, Bitter, Sour, and Salty tastes
Taste Sensitivity and Adaptation:
Decrease in sensitivity with age
Rapid adaptation of taste sensation
Role of Saliva in Taste:
Dissolution of tastants to reach receptors
Washing away the stimulus
Taste Preferences and Aversions:
Mechanisms behind taste preference and aversion
Influence of receptors and neural pathways
Impact of Sensory Nerve Damage:
Degeneration of taste buds if the sensory nerve fiber is cut
Abnormalities of Taste Detection:
Conditions: Ageusia, Hypogeusia, Dysgeusia (parageusia)
Causes: Nerve damage, neurological disorders, infections, poor oral hygiene, adverse drug effects, deficiencies, aging, tobacco use, altered neurotransmitter levels
Neurotransmitters and Taste Threshold:
Effects of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) on taste sensitivity
Supertasters:
25% of the population with heightened sensitivity to taste, especially bitterness
Increased number of fungiform papillae
Couples presenting to the infertility clinic- Do they really have infertility...Sujoy Dasgupta
Dr Sujoy Dasgupta presented the study on "Couples presenting to the infertility clinic- Do they really have infertility? – The unexplored stories of non-consummation" in the 13th Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE 2024) at Manila on 24 May, 2024.
Report Back from SGO 2024: What’s the Latest in Cervical Cancer?bkling
Are you curious about what’s new in cervical cancer research or unsure what the findings mean? Join Dr. Emily Ko, a gynecologic oncologist at Penn Medicine, to learn about the latest updates from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2024 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. Dr. Ko will discuss what the research presented at the conference means for you and answer your questions about the new developments.
These lecture slides, by Dr Sidra Arshad, offer a quick overview of physiological basis of a normal electrocardiogram.
Learning objectives:
1. Define an electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrocardiography
2. Describe how dipoles generated by the heart produce the waveforms of the ECG
3. Describe the components of a normal electrocardiogram of a typical bipolar leads (limb II)
4. Differentiate between intervals and segments
5. Enlist some common indications for obtaining an ECG
Study Resources:
1. Chapter 11, Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, 14th edition
2. Chapter 9, Human Physiology - From Cells to Systems, Lauralee Sherwood, 9th edition
3. Chapter 29, Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 26th edition
4. Electrocardiogram, StatPearls - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549803/
5. ECG in Medical Practice by ABM Abdullah, 4th edition
6. ECG Basics, http://www.nataliescasebook.com/tag/e-c-g-basics
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Title: Sense of Smell
Presenter: Dr. Faiza, Assistant Professor of Physiology
Qualifications:
MBBS (Best Graduate, AIMC Lahore)
FCPS Physiology
ICMT, CHPE, DHPE (STMU)
MPH (GC University, Faisalabad)
MBA (Virtual University of Pakistan)
Learning Objectives:
Describe the primary categories of smells and the concept of odor blindness.
Explain the structure and location of the olfactory membrane and mucosa, including the types and roles of cells involved in olfaction.
Describe the pathway and mechanisms of olfactory signal transmission from the olfactory receptors to the brain.
Illustrate the biochemical cascade triggered by odorant binding to olfactory receptors, including the role of G-proteins and second messengers in generating an action potential.
Identify different types of olfactory disorders such as anosmia, hyposmia, hyperosmia, and dysosmia, including their potential causes.
Key Topics:
Olfactory Genes:
3% of the human genome accounts for olfactory genes.
400 genes for odorant receptors.
Olfactory Membrane:
Located in the superior part of the nasal cavity.
Medially: Folds downward along the superior septum.
Laterally: Folds over the superior turbinate and upper surface of the middle turbinate.
Total surface area: 5-10 square centimeters.
Olfactory Mucosa:
Olfactory Cells: Bipolar nerve cells derived from the CNS (100 million), with 4-25 olfactory cilia per cell.
Sustentacular Cells: Produce mucus and maintain ionic and molecular environment.
Basal Cells: Replace worn-out olfactory cells with an average lifespan of 1-2 months.
Bowman’s Gland: Secretes mucus.
Stimulation of Olfactory Cells:
Odorant dissolves in mucus and attaches to receptors on olfactory cilia.
Involves a cascade effect through G-proteins and second messengers, leading to depolarization and action potential generation in the olfactory nerve.
Quality of a Good Odorant:
Small (3-20 Carbon atoms), volatile, water-soluble, and lipid-soluble.
Facilitated by odorant-binding proteins in mucus.
Membrane Potential and Action Potential:
Resting membrane potential: -55mV.
Action potential frequency in the olfactory nerve increases with odorant strength.
Adaptation Towards the Sense of Smell:
Rapid adaptation within the first second, with further slow adaptation.
Psychological adaptation greater than receptor adaptation, involving feedback inhibition from the central nervous system.
Primary Sensations of Smell:
Camphoraceous, Musky, Floral, Pepperminty, Ethereal, Pungent, Putrid.
Odor Detection Threshold:
Examples: Hydrogen sulfide (0.0005 ppm), Methyl-mercaptan (0.002 ppm).
Some toxic substances are odorless at lethal concentrations.
Characteristics of Smell:
Odor blindness for single substances due to lack of appropriate receptor protein.
Behavioral and emotional influences of smell.
Transmission of Olfactory Signals:
From olfactory cells to glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, involving lateral inhibition.
Primitive, less old, and new olfactory systems with different path
These simplified slides by Dr. Sidra Arshad present an overview of the non-respiratory functions of the respiratory tract.
Learning objectives:
1. Enlist the non-respiratory functions of the respiratory tract
2. Briefly explain how these functions are carried out
3. Discuss the significance of dead space
4. Differentiate between minute ventilation and alveolar ventilation
5. Describe the cough and sneeze reflexes
Study Resources:
1. Chapter 39, Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, 14th edition
2. Chapter 34, Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 26th edition
3. Chapter 17, Human Physiology by Lauralee Sherwood, 9th edition
4. Non-respiratory functions of the lungs https://academic.oup.com/bjaed/article/13/3/98/278874
New Directions in Targeted Therapeutic Approaches for Older Adults With Mantl...i3 Health
i3 Health is pleased to make the speaker slides from this activity available for use as a non-accredited self-study or teaching resource.
This slide deck presented by Dr. Kami Maddocks, Professor-Clinical in the Division of Hematology and
Associate Division Director for Ambulatory Operations
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, will provide insight into new directions in targeted therapeutic approaches for older adults with mantle cell lymphoma.
STATEMENT OF NEED
Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare, aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) accounting for 5% to 7% of all lymphomas. Its prognosis ranges from indolent disease that does not require treatment for years to very aggressive disease, which is associated with poor survival (Silkenstedt et al, 2021). Typically, MCL is diagnosed at advanced stage and in older patients who cannot tolerate intensive therapy (NCCN, 2022). Although recent advances have slightly increased remission rates, recurrence and relapse remain very common, leading to a median overall survival between 3 and 6 years (LLS, 2021). Though there are several effective options, progress is still needed towards establishing an accepted frontline approach for MCL (Castellino et al, 2022). Treatment selection and management of MCL are complicated by the heterogeneity of prognosis, advanced age and comorbidities of patients, and lack of an established standard approach for treatment, making it vital that clinicians be familiar with the latest research and advances in this area. In this activity chaired by Michael Wang, MD, Professor in the Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma at MD Anderson Cancer Center, expert faculty will discuss prognostic factors informing treatment, the promising results of recent trials in new therapeutic approaches, and the implications of treatment resistance in therapeutic selection for MCL.
Target Audience
Hematology/oncology fellows, attending faculty, and other health care professionals involved in the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).
Learning Objectives
1.) Identify clinical and biological prognostic factors that can guide treatment decision making for older adults with MCL
2.) Evaluate emerging data on targeted therapeutic approaches for treatment-naive and relapsed/refractory MCL and their applicability to older adults
3.) Assess mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies for MCL and their implications for treatment selection
Pulmonary Thromboembolism - etilogy, types, medical- Surgical and nursing man...VarunMahajani
Disruption of blood supply to lung alveoli due to blockage of one or more pulmonary blood vessels is called as Pulmonary thromboembolism. In this presentation we will discuss its causes, types and its management in depth.
Pulmonary Thromboembolism - etilogy, types, medical- Surgical and nursing man...
Best Practices for Validating a Next-Gen Sequencing Workflow
1. Best Practices for Validating a Next-Gen
Sequencing Workflow
August 16, 2023
Presented by Darby Kammeraad, Director of Field Application Services and
Rana Smalling, PhD, Field Application Scientist
3. Best Practices for Validating a Next-Gen
Sequencing Workflow
August 16, 2023
Presented by Darby Kammeraad, Director of Field Application Services and
Rana Smalling, PhD, Field Application Scientist
4. NIH Grant Funding Acknowledgments
4
• Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of
the National Institutes of Health under:
o Award Number R43GM128485-01
o Award Number R43GM128485-02
o Award Number 2R44 GM125432-01
o Award Number 2R44 GM125432-02
o Montana SMIR/STTR Matching Funds Program Grant Agreement Number 19-51-RCSBIR-005
• PI is Dr. Andreas Scherer, CEO of Golden Helix.
• The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the
National Institutes of Health.
5. Who Are We?
5
Golden Helix is a global bioinformatics company founded in 1998
Filtering and Annotation
ACMG & AMP Guidelines
Clinical Reports
CNV Analysis
CNV Analysis
GWAS | Genomic Prediction
Large-N Population Studies
RNA-Seq
Large-N CNV-Analysis
Variant Warehouse
Centralized Annotations
Hosted Reports
Sharing and Integration
Pipeline: Run Workflows
8. The Golden Helix Difference
8
FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT
On premise or in a private
cloud
BUSINESS MODEL
Annual fee for software,
training and support
CLIENT CENTRIC
Unlimited support from the
very beginning
SINGLE SOLUTION
Comprehensive cancer and
germline diagnostics
SCALABILITY
Gene panels to whole
exomes or genomes
THROUGHPUT
Automated pipeline
capabilities
QUALITY
Clinical reports correct the
first time
9. Today’s Presenters
9
Rana Smalling, PhD
Field Application Scientist
Darby Kammeraad
Director of Field Application
Services
Best Practices for Validating a Next-Gen Sequencing Workflow
10. 10
Confidential |
NGS Clinical Workflow
Golden Helix provides comprehensive data analytics software that scales across gene panels, whole exomes, and whole genomes
DNA Extraction in Wet
Lab and Sequence
Generation
Interpretation and
Result Reporting
Primary
Read Processing and
Quality Filtering
Alignment and Variant
Calling
Secondary
*Golden Helix provides
Secondary Analysis through
a reseller agreement
Tertiary
Golden Helix’s software and
primary focus
Comprehensive
secondary and tertiary
analysis solutions for
primary data
aggregated by all
commercially available
sequencers
Type Size
Gene Panel Small (100MB)
Whole Exome Medium (1GB)
Whole Genome Large (100GB)
Cancer use case
Hereditary use case
Process Analysis
… and scales across multiple
data set sizes for cancer and
hereditary use cases
Filtering and Annotation
Data Warehousing
Workflow Automation
Golden Helix works with all major
sequencers…
Topic of
Validation
12. Content Overview
12
• Preparation for NGS workflow validation
Adequate controls
Defining expected outcomes
• Design of the NGS workflow in VarSeq
Types of workflows needed
Sample related search terms
Automation
• Expert tips
Unique methods in VarSeq to expedite
validation
• Use cases
1) Somatic workflow
2) Germline workflow scenario
3) CNV validation example
13. Validation begins with well characterized sample
controls
13
Collection of case/control data
o Insightful: Kit with generic controls or catalog (sample or database file with numerous pathogenic variants)
Pros: Useful when testing accuracy of classifier or benchmarking algorithms
Cons: Do not suitably test efficacy of overall assay/filter for real world application
o Practical: Designed controls or real-world data with established results -> more suitable for workflow design/validation)
o Determine the number of samples needed to establish statistical robustness
Example for GHI CNV caller
• minimum 30 controls, read-depth 100X (panels and exomes), consistent library prep method.
Potentially >100s of samples with repeat runs for robustness
Handle spectrum of variant types (SNVs, Indels, CNVs, Fusions)
Handle workflow design/template (TN, T-only, Single germline, Trio/Duo)
Sample collection (blood, saliva, solid tumor, FFPE)
14. Example control sources
14
Horizon Molecular reference standards:
https://horizondiscovery.com/en/reference-standards
o Mimic patient material from sample prep to downstream
analysis
Platform agnostic
Oncology focused with >370 clinically-relevant
variants
SNVs/Indels/CNVs/Fusions
Various DNA source types
15. Example validation process
15
• Phase 1: Software installation and verification of user access
• Phase 2: Definition of all deliverables: clinical reports, exported
data... (outputs)
• Phase 3: Initial workflow design tested with controls (inputs)
• Phase 4: Peer-review and verification of workflow design
• Phase 5: Analytical verification (expected outcomes)
• Phase 6: Finalization of all SOPs
• Phase 7: Training of key employees
• Phase 8: Pipeline approval and go-live
16. Optimal NGS Workflow
16
Workflow design – simplifying the workflow upfront streamlines automation later
o Variant filtering : In order to finalize the filter chain, develop a clear understanding of
the applicable cut-offs that are being modeled within the workflow.
Variant quality (unique to each bioinformatic pipeline but VarSeq is agnostic
and can handle any VCF)
Alt allele frequency in population (typically 1-5% or less but easily adjusted
for disorders more prevalent in population
Ontology (Missense, LOF effect, or predicted to impact canonical or novel
splice site)
Sample specific information (phenotypes/panels or tumor type)
Classifier (default cutoffs adjustable to accommodate founder populations as
example)
o Implementation tip: Testing filter accuracy with flags
Use variant flag sets to test efficacy of filtering strategies (Where does my
known pathogenic variant get lost? Adjusting the filter cutoffs/thresholds)
17. Crucial to define scope of reportable findings as it creates
novel workflow designs
o Establish with the clinical stakeholders what is scope of
genomic data to report on?
For example, should report include
incidental/secondary findings?
• In somatic test, report germline findings such
hereditary risk later in life or related to
relatedness
• Perhaps an opt-in and opt-out policy
o Format choices: Exportable .json or simple visual with pdf
or word document
Reporting: Desired Output
17
18. Leveraging sample relationships
Types of potential germline workflows
o Carrier risk analysis
Pro: Interesting findings can facilitate early
genomic investigation for future prenatal
situation
Con: List of “risky alleles” require careful
reporting language
o Trios/Duos/Extended pedigrees
Pro: Highly efficient filtering strategy
Con: Require sequencing data from other family
members, may not always be available and add
cost
Inheritance Models: family-based analysis
18
19. o Leveraging sample phenotypes
Single sample: Phenotypic based search or use of panel when disorders are consistent in lab
• Pro: Phenotypes search expands beyond limit of panel. Not missing
potentially interesting pathogenic variants
• Con: User may need to research novel gene that falls outside current
version of panel
Approach supported with VarSeq PhoRank algorithm
• Can be setup to be deployed alongside panel to reinforce variant search
• Can be automated with VSPipeline on per sample basis if each case
disorder is unique
Leveraging sample specific search terms: PhoRank
19
20. Somatic
Workflow
Strategy
• Priority Lists
• Project design
Workflow
Template
design
• Parallel filters by priority
• Reporting vs. tracking decision
tree
Workflow
automation
•VSPipeline
deployment strategy
•LIMS/API integration
Lab scenarios: Somatic
20
o Somatic Workflow Strategy for TSO500 or other panels
Priority 1 list: known Tier I oncogenic variants with treatments
Priority 2 list: user explores Tier II variants to collect available
knowledge
Priority 3 list: VUS variants for future review
o Workflow Template design insights
Parallel filters for
• Report: Rapid discovery and report of Priority 1 variants
• Report: User investigation of Priority 2 variants
• No Report on VUS: tracking of VUS for future
reclassification via VSWarehouse
i. Bulk upload of entire variant cohorts
ii. Easily track changing classifications
iii. Track and filter out artifacts
o Workflow automation with VSPipeline
Streamline deployment of validated template
Integration of VarSeq with existing LIMS and external genomic
software via APIs
Somatic workflow
Tier1
Tier2
Tier3
21. Lab scenarios: Germline
21
Germline workflow
Routine workflow filters applied to almost all sample scenarios
o Following scenarios are currently deployed across our global customer base
Scenario 1: University lab running Genomes with designated panels
Scenario 2: Commercial lab running Genomes for any unique disorder
(case by case basis) and report must include any interesting incidental
findings for risk alleles.
o Workflow design insights
Parallel filters for
• Focused search for variants under “Standard Diagnostic” filter
• Parallel filter to capture scope of reportable “Incidental Findings”
o Second project: CNV calling with VarSeq
Reviewing the quality of CNV reference set
Comparison of findings against truth set
Standard
Diagnostic
Incidental
Findings
Scenario 1 Scenario 2
23. NIH Grant Funding Acknowledgments
23
• Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of
the National Institutes of Health under:
o Award Number R43GM128485-01
o Award Number R43GM128485-02
o Award Number 2R44 GM125432-01
o Award Number 2R44 GM125432-02
o Montana SMIR/STTR Matching Funds Program Grant Agreement Number 19-51-RCSBIR-005
• PI is Dr. Andreas Scherer, CEO of Golden Helix.
• The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the
National Institutes of Health.
25. 25 Licenses for 25 Months
25
Celebrating 25 Years in Business
• Limited quantity
• Licenses are 25-month license periods
• Available to new customers only
• Orders must be received by Sept 15, 2023
• Visit goldenhelix.com/forms/25-for-25 or
scan the QR code below
26. Conferences
26
European Human Genetics Conference, Booth #566
• June 10 – 13, 2023
• Glasgow, UK
• Monday, June 12, 12:00 - Corporate Satellite Talk (ALSH 1,
Level 0) Achieving Economic Success as an NGS Lab:
Strategy and Implementation
AMP Europe, Milan, Italy, Booth #14
• June 18 – 20, 2023
• Milan, Italy
• Monday, June 19, 1:00 – Industry Symposium Achieving
Economic Success as an NGS Lab: Strategy and
Implementation
Thanks Casey! We can’t wait to dive in to this subject
Thank you Casey, and good morning everyone. Today we will be presenting on the topic:
Before we start diving into the subject, I wanted mention our appreciation for our grant funding from NIH.
The research reported in this publication was supported by the National institute of general medical sciences of the national institutes of health under the listed awards.
We are also grateful to have received local grant funding from the state of Montana. Our PI is Dr. Andreas Scherer who is also the CEO at Golden Helix and the content described today is the responsibility of the authors and does not officially represent the views of the NIH.
So with that covered, lets take just a few minutes to talk a little bit about our company Golden Helix.
Golden Helix is a global bioinformatics software and analytics company that enables research and clinical practices to analyze large genomic datasets. We were originally founded in 1998 based off pharmacogenomics work performed at GlaxoSmithKline, who is still a primary investor in our company.
VarSeq, our flagship product, serves as a clinical tertiary analysis tool. At its core, it serves as a variant annotation and filtration engine. Additionally, however, users have access to automated AMP or ACMG variant guidelines. VarSeq also have the capability to detect copy number variations scaling from single exome to large aneuploidy events. Lastly, the finalization of variant interpretation and classification is further optimized with the VarSeq clinical reporting capability. Users can integrate all of these features into a standardized workflow.
Paired with VarSeq are VSWarehouse and VSPipeline. VSWarehouse serves as a repository for the large amount of useful genomic data wrangled by our customers. Warehouse not only solves the issue of data storage for ever-increasing genomic content, but also is fully queryable and auditable and allows for the definability of user access for project managers or collaborators. In tandem with this, VSPipeline, which will be a large part of today's discussion, allows for the automated execution of routine workflows, further optimizing users' abilities to handle large amounts of data and throughput.
Lastly, our research platform, SVS, enables researchers to perform complex analysis and visualizations on genomic and phenotypic data. SVS has a range of tools to perform GWAW, genomic prediction, and RNA-Seq analysis, among other common research applications.
Our software has been very well received by the industry. We have been cited in thousands of peer-reviewed publications, and that’s a testament to our customer base.
We work with over 400 organizations all over the globe. This includes top-tier institutions, like Stanford and yale, government organizations like the NCI and NIH, clinics such as Sick Kids, and many other genetic testing labs. We now have well over 20,000 installs of our products and with 1,000’s of unique users.
So how is this relevant to you?
At Golden Helix, we focus on the seven pillars of customer success. Golden Helix offers a single software solution that encompasses germline, somatic, and CNV analysis. Our software is also highly scalable, supporting gene panel to whole genome sequencing workflows. With our complete automation capabilities, we now offer a FASTQ or VCF to report pipeline. Our software can be locally deployed, or installed in cloud, and our business model of annual subscription per user means you are able to increase your workload without increasing analysis fees. And it goes without saying, that our FAS team is here to support you on your analysis journey.
Thank you to everyone who is in attendance today and thank you Rana for including me in this presentation. Rana and I are members of the Golden Helix support team that serves to assist with the workflow construction that we are going to highlight today.
Let's start with a bird's-eye view of an NGS clinical workflow, and explore how VarSeq fits in. When validating a workflow, it is important to plan with the beginning and end in mind, starting from sample collection and primary analysis to get your samples sequenced then run through the secondary stage handling alignment and variant calling then lasttly through the tertiary stage paired with data Warehousing. VarSeq mainly encompasses the tertiary analysis steps of filtering, annotation, interpretation and result reporting. However, its modular and flexible design makes it compatible with a variety of inputs coming from many secondary pipelines. Golden Helix software functions with all major sequencers, and our partnership with Sentieon allows users to establish industry-leading secondary analysis. Moreover, VarSeq tackles the issue of scalability quite well, allowing users to automate workflows for increasing sizes of datasets from small gene panels to the increasingly affordable genome. For this webcast, we will be focusing on key points of validating the tertiary analysis stage in VarSeq.
VarSeq facilitates handling of all your variant types for both somatic and germline analysis. The utility of the software can be broken into stages. The first being the import of your SNVs/indels, CNVs and fusions, then passed through a user defined variant filter coupled with many annotations and algorithms to isolate the clinically relevant variant. These filters and project structure are saved as templates to facilitate automation with our VSPipeline command line tool. Once the clinically relevant variant is isolated, it is then moved into stage 2 or VSClinical which serves as the interpretation hub to collect all relevant evidence for germline or somatic variants via the ACMG and AMP guidelines. Once the variant is evaluated, it is saved locally in a user database and carried into the final report stage. You’ll learn today that the reporting feature comes with quite expansive options for the user to customize, but overall, think of VarSeq as the one software suit solution to handle full import of all variants to isolating the reported findings of clinically relevant variants. So now that you have a high level understanding of the tools purpose, lets move into discussing today’s topic.
So if you’ve attended our webcasts in the past, you know that we typically give a demonstration of the software. Today is no exception, however, we’re going to keep the discussion high level and specifically related to the process of NGS workflow validation. One reason Rana and I were excited to discuss this topic is that we get a lot of hands-on experience helping our users develop their workflows. Prior to any workflow construction, the user will always benefit from having established controls and an early framework for the desired outputs of the NGS workflow so keep reports in mind for this topic. The initial push in our NGS platform VarSeq is to develop the ideal filtering template that can be used routinely across all samples and we’re going to cover some filtering recommendations you may align with. Additionally, keep in mind that this conversation is centered around the early exposure to the software, then once the workflow is established it is all highly automatable which quickly becomes a necessity for our busy customers. So lets take a second to discuss adequate controls
Proper validation begins with well characterized sample controls. One important distinction to make is the purpose of the control. From our experience, users come to us with two types. One being a mock sample or database of known pathogenic variants which are great for testing against our algorithms when benchmarking. However, they fall short when it comes to testing the application of the NGS workflow for real samples. To validate your variant filtration strategy, the more practical controls are real-world data or manufactured samples made to mimic samples in your pipeline with established variants.
It will also be important to determine early on the number of samples that will give enough power to your validated your assay as you will need enough to cover the spectrum of variant types.
For example for the GHI CNV caller, at least 30 germline controls are needed with a read depth of about 100x for panels, and these must be done with the same library prep and sequencing method.
Beyond just CNVs, you may need to run 100s of samples including biological or technical replicates for robustness. VarSeq allows you to handle the spectrum of variant types and does not limit the user to any specific sample type whether that’s blood, tumor or FFPE, just as long as you can get a VCF.
When sourcing controls, users are not limited to any specific vendor but the most useful types of samples will be well characterized truth sets that offer biological samples taking the user through the entire primary, secondary and tertiary process.
From the support realm, one example source for control samples are Horizon Molecular reference standards (mainly for cancer but appears to have some germline options) – these samples will mimic patient material from sample prep to downstream analysis regardless of the platform and variant type. Ideally, the user approaches the tertiary stage with a collection of adequate controls with established pathogenic variants for both germline and somatic workflows. Then in the tertiary stage, we can easily develop filters that ensure capture of these variants even when running against a whole genome sample. We will illustrate the potential NGS assay in our tertiary tool VarSeq here shortly, but first give an overview of a hypothetical NGS assay validation process.
Here is an example process overview. We typically initiate this process with installation of all necessary tools or in this case our software VarSeq and ensure all system requirements are met and all necessary users have adequate permissions. Next is the crucial discussion on output formats. Not only deciding on what file type may be generated but also getting an early framework the report format. For example, custom work on a word or pdf template generated by the lab. Then is the user’s due diligence at building the workflow to filter and prioritize variants. This phase is paired with the available control samples we previously discussed to construct and test the efficacy of the variant filter. Once built, the assay will likely undergo peer review and may result in some revisions to the workflow but is subsequently locked down and verified for automation. Along with this verification comes standardization of the necessary protocols, training of all potential users, and finally full approval prior to the institutions go-live date. Obviously this is meant to be a high level representation of the process for the purpose of expediting its implementation and we realize things may not happen exactly in this order. One technically rich area is phase 3 when building the assay, and this is something the golden helix support staff is more than comfortable with. Lets review the key components of constructing your dream NGS workflow
Yes workflow design is one of our favorite training topics to go through with our customers, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like some guidance.
VarSeq is a great variant prioritization tool as it gives the user full control over the filters and algorithms that are applied and allows the user to define the ideal workflow for their use case. To expedite this stage we provide prebuilt filtering templates, and also lend our expertise to each user as they build their preferred templates. These workflows are meant to be sensitive yet effective to retain clinically relevant variants while excluding non interesting or benign variants. Fortunately, many of these workflows leverage routine strategies that we can break down here:
Filter first on variant quality fields from your VCF, and in this case VarSeq is secondary pipeline agnostic meaning you can import VCFs from any caller as long as they meet standard VCF format. Our templates provide recommendations, but ultimately are dependent on your sample quality, lab testing SOPs or will be informed by best practices within your field.
Then we typically filter on population alt allele frequency, where the user can set a cutoff of 5% or less following the ACMG standard or even 1% or less which is used commonly.
Next, Our ontology filters allow you to captured variants that may impact the functionality of the gene protein. For example, keep all missense, LOF and potential splice variants.
In a workflow like this, a virtual panel or phenotype will be useful for focusing on sample specific disorders and help identify the subset of variant most relevant to an individual – for phenotypic prioritization we have our PhoRank algorithm which we will discuss in more detail shortly.
One of the most powerful strategies for variant prioritization in VarSeq is our group of variant classifier algorithms – for germline variants we provide automated ACMG guideline based classification, and we would like to give you guys a teaser – our Cancer classifier for somatic variants is going to be released later this year.
Applying classifiers are a powerful way to hone in on the most relevant pathogenic or oncogenic variants in your sample. These can be edited to accommodate varying founder populations or perhaps inclusion of additional consortium databases with known variant classifications.
When testing a workflow, a pro tip is to use our variant flags to assess accuracy of a filter – I will demonstrate an example of this when we get into the software
Another critical part of the workflow validation process is early designation of the report outputs. VarSeq gives users the option to generate reports in a Microsoft Word, PDF format, or even a machine readable JSON file for their existing LIMS. Overall there's a lot of options on how the report gets generated in VarSerq however it is also critical to define the scope of the evaluation being done in the software. For example, are you focused on primary findings only or perhaps inclusion of secondary germline findings in your somatic workflow, or even an incidental findings for your germline analysis. We seek to define the scope of evaluations to be carried out in VarSeq then establish what customization efforts are required to make the ideal document format for your pipeline. This is one of the strongest value points of the VarSeq software in that it gives users full control of the customized format of the report for their lab.
Most of our demo will be focuse don single samples, but we just want to make you aware that we have strategies for multiple relationship structures. The filters pretty much apply but we fir the inheritance mosdels below the common piece,
When designing an initial workflow, it is important to keep in mind the sample relationships between samples in a project – are they individual of the same family, or matched tumor and normal from the same sample or groups of affected vs unaffected samples in a case/control study. VarSeq facilitates defining these relationships, and we specifically want to highlight family-based analysis.
It can be quite powerful to leverage family relationships and shared phenotypes or disorders for identifying disease causing variants.
There are pros and cons to family NGS workflows that will need to be taken into account when validating such workflows. Two examples of inheritance or family based analyses are carrier risk analysis and trios (which is broad term that encapsulates duos and extended family analysis as well). Carrier risk analysis can facilitate early investigations into disease risk for family planning, but a downside is that reporting a list of high risk alleles requires very delicate handling and careful reporting language.
With regards to trio analysis, these are a highly efficient strategy for tracking down disease variants, but the need for data from multiple family members is affected by sample availability and high cost.
Another aspect of designing an efficient filter is leveraging the patients’ phenotype. Often a user will have a list of genes of interest for a well defined panel. However we are seeing it more and more commonly that a filter should be designed to accommodate any unique phenotype on a case by case basis. This can be easily setup in VarSeq by use of our phorank algorithm which will expand variant capture beyond the rigidity of a panel. A downside to this may be that the user may need to do further research to validate novel genes that fall outside the panel and ensure that the relationship to the patient’s disorder is truly solid. VarSeq gives the user the best of both worlds with virtual gene panels approach or phenotypic matching via PhoRank.
What you don’t filter on you may want to display in the variant table and or GB.
Another goal for the today’s discussion is to address hypothetical workflow scenarios for labs running Germline and Somatic Analysis. We will be exploring three scenarios in our demo based off real world experience with GHI customers.
One scenario is a lab running CGP kit like the TSO500 panel from Illumina on a large number of samples. There is a strong initial focus on building a filter for the various variant types, including SNVs, Indels, CNVs, and Fusions but also involves parallel filters to capture different categories of variant priority.
For example, one filter facilitate the rapid processing of variants in the top priority list, but users may develop workflows that best handle lower priority matches or even expedite the capture of VUS for future reassessment if not presently reportable. One crucial tool that plays a role in this reassessment of VUS is VSWarehouse which we will also present today. We will also demonstrate some example germline workflows as well.
Keep in mind the scope of the conversation is surrounding the early convo but we can save these as templates which I will show
I will demonstrate a couple VarSeq projects. One handling genome level data with a filter designed to capture pathogenic variants under a standard diagnostic workflow channeled through a designated panel for cardiomyopathy, but also show the user can utilize parallel filter logic to capture phenotypically ranked variants and also construct a secondary findings filter. A second project will be dedicated to the quality assessment of CNV calling with VarSeq, first reviewing the sample coverage quality and overall comparison, plus compare called CNVs to a known truth set to ensure accuracy of the caller.
Before wrapping up, we'd like to again state our appreciation for the grants included here. And with that, I'll hand things back to Casey to talk about some exciting marketing updates and take us through a Q&A session.
Again, I want to mention how grateful we are we are thankful of grants such as this which support the advancement and development of our software to create the high quality software you'll see today.
So with that covered, lets take a few minutes to talk a little bit about our company Golden Helix.