Cloud-based genome sequencing exchange could make personalized medicine easier for physicians

A genome sequencing platform to help physicians screen patients for the most appropriate drugs for their conditions such as for cancer treatments is one component of a new company thats a spinout from a collaboration between Philadelphia-area Coriell Institute for Medical Research and its technology partner IBM.

Coriell Institute CEO Michael Christman and Scott Megill, Coriells chief information officer, who is leading the spinout, told MedCity News in a phone interview how the startup will work and explained its timeline.

Coriell Life Sciences in Camden, New Jersey,will be at the center of a genome ecosystem transmitting queries from physicians to genomic-sequencing interpreters. It will also provide cloud-based storage for each patients genomic sequence. It sees itself as something of an Amazon.com for genomic sequencing. It does not own the content, but through the ecosystem it is setting up, it is facilitating the interaction between physicians, researchers and the interpreters of that data. The company is making it easier to order, store and interpret genome sequence data for physicians.

Heres how it works: A physician would order a test that requires genomic sequencing the same way he or she would order a diagnostic test. Coriell sends the sequencing order to a network of third-party interpreters it is in the process of assembling. The results will be transmitted to the patients medical records and the genome would be stored in its cloud-based vault. Physicians could use it to order follow-up tests or researchers could utilize the de-identified data.

Megill said he expects Coriell Life Sciences genome vault will be ready by early summer and its genomic exchange product is expected to be ready sometime this fall.

Christman said the startups programs would provide a huge economic benefit by helping the right patients get the right care at the right time. We are at a special time [for genomic sequencing] where doctors want to use this tool.For example, it would be able to identify patients who wont respond well to Plavix an anticlotting drug thats ineffective for about 25 percent of the patients for whom it is prescribed. Instead, they could be prescribed U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved alternative drugs and save a lot of money. Thats just the tip of the iceberg, Christman said. He also pointed out that genomic sequencing is increasingly being done in utero through the mothers blood and negates a potentially more risky approach using amniocentesis.

IBM has been helping to build the technology platform for the spinout that will transmit the information gathered from the genomic sequencing data back to the patients medical records. It will also provide a secure way to store the cloud-based data.

The partnership with IBM dates back to 2011, when the company provided monitoring software to instantly alert Coriell researchers before any mechanical failure occurs and in turn, protect the integrity of its biological samples.

[Photo from Flickr user andylepp]

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Cloud-based genome sequencing exchange could make personalized medicine easier for physicians