Knome was co-founded in 2007 by Harvard genomics ace George Church.
Knome made headlines in its early days when it said it sequenced and analyzed the genomes of three wealthy people for the cool sum of $350,000 each.
A year later, the price dropped to $100,000, which meant that a few more folks with genetic diseases in their families were able to afford what it took to scrutinize their genomes.
But only now that commercially available sequencers can blaze through an entire 6-billion letter human genome for less than $5,000, Knome has been able to branch out its business to appeal to a whole lot more people.
Molecular biologists and biochemists, for starters, are increasingly becoming curious about using the new tools of genomics for their experiments. But they typically don’t have the math and statistics background to make much sense of the data.
People who are trained in bioinformatics who can help analyze and visualize these massive piles of raw data, as you might imagine, are in short supply and high demand these days.
As academics start dreaming up all kinds of questions they can realistically ask through sequencing genomes for $5,000 a person, and Big Pharma companies even start to mull whether to sequence patients in their clinical drug trials, it’s created a broader base of interest in the kind of more automated genomic analysis and interpretation that Knome was built to provide.
Knome is a private company, and doesn’t say much about its finances, but it is showing signs of gaining traction in its fourth year of operations. The company has built up a team of 30 employees in Cambridge, plus another 10 in India.
Knome has recently come out with a version 2.0 of its software. Researchers from Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, the University of British Columbia, the University of Seoul, have started using the service, among others, Conde says.
Knome, financed by the founders in the beginning, has now pulled in a total of $12 million in investment capital from the founders, angels, France-based bioMerieux, and one more unnamed strategic investor.
The latest strategic investment, worth $5 million, arrived in July 2011, according to a regulatory filing. Knome now plans to “hire aggressively,” and currently lists seven openings on its company site.
Conde wouldn’t disclose actual revenues, or Knome’s growth projections, but he did say in the first quarter of 2011, the company generated more revenue than it had in its cumulative history to that point.
The founding idea in 2007, “was to make genomics accessible to the public.” But the cost of the sequencing in the first three years was still so high, there was no way it could be truly accessible, and only a select few genomics experts and bioinformaticians were able to use the Knome service.
But now that Illumina, Life Technologies and Complete Genomics have all developed commercial sequencing technologies that can go for less than $5,000 a genome, Knome has found more interest in its software (called kGAP 2.0) that can compare new genomes sequenced on the various instruments vs. what is known in the scientific literature about relationships between DNA and disease.
mardi 18 octobre 2011
Complete Genomics (NASDAQ: GNOM) will sequence 1,000 genomes of healthy people in their 80s and up.
Mountain View, CA-based Complete Genomics (NASDAQ: GNOM) said earlier this month it will work with Scripps Health in San Diego to sequence 1,000 genomes of healthy people in their 80s and up, to look for the secrets to long, healthy life.
The trial, known as the “Wellderly Study,” will include 1,000 people who are “well” without any major diseases or long-term health complications, and “elderly,” from the ages of 80 through 108.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Xconomy, 10/17/11
The trial, known as the “Wellderly Study,” will include 1,000 people who are “well” without any major diseases or long-term health complications, and “elderly,” from the ages of 80 through 108.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Xconomy, 10/17/11
Sequencing of the 50 000 genomes of the Feroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are a remote speck in the North Atlantic Ocean, where about 50,000 people live under a self-governance agreement with Denmark.
The local ministry of health has exercised some of that self-governing authority by teaming up with DNA sequencing leader Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) to capture the genomes of all 50,000 people in the Faroe Islands.
Only 100 people will get their genomes sequenced in the pilot phase of the project, but this experiment has big promise.
Like Iceland, home of the well-known scientists at deCODE Genetics, the Faroe Islands are a place with a relatively homogenous population, good genealogy records, and medical records.
This is the kind of place that can help scientists connect the ever-elusive dots between genetic abnormalities and various diseases.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Luke Timmerman 10/17/11
The local ministry of health has exercised some of that self-governing authority by teaming up with DNA sequencing leader Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) to capture the genomes of all 50,000 people in the Faroe Islands.
Only 100 people will get their genomes sequenced in the pilot phase of the project, but this experiment has big promise.
Like Iceland, home of the well-known scientists at deCODE Genetics, the Faroe Islands are a place with a relatively homogenous population, good genealogy records, and medical records.
This is the kind of place that can help scientists connect the ever-elusive dots between genetic abnormalities and various diseases.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Luke Timmerman 10/17/11
10000 autism genomes sequenced at BGI
BGI, formerly known as Beijing Genomics Institute and the world’s largest genomic organization, said last week it will sequence the entire human genomes of 10,000 people from 2,000 families who have at least two children with autism.
The project, in collaboration with the patient advocacy group Autism Speaks, will look to unravel the complex interplay between genetics and environment that is thought to contribute to this developmental brain disorder.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Luke Timmerman 10/17/11
The project, in collaboration with the patient advocacy group Autism Speaks, will look to unravel the complex interplay between genetics and environment that is thought to contribute to this developmental brain disorder.
References
- Genomics 2.0: Ten Years After the Bubble, it’s Getting Really Interesting Again, Luke Timmerman 10/17/11
vendredi 25 février 2011
Social networking and biology
References
- Social Networking's Newest Friend: Genomics (Page 2 of 2). Thursday, February 24, 2011. By Emily Singer
- Social Networking's Newest Friend: Genomics (Page 2 of 2). Thursday, February 24, 2011. By Emily Singer
Stanford v. Roche Patent Case
References
- High Court to Hear Stanford v. Roche Patent Case Next Week, GenomeWeb, February 23, 2011
- High Court to Hear Stanford v. Roche Patent Case Next Week, GenomeWeb, February 23, 2011
mercredi 2 février 2011
Sleep selectively stores useful memories
References
- Sleep selectively stores useful memories, February 2, 2011. Through kurzweilai.net and sfn.org
- Sleep selectively stores useful memories, February 2, 2011. Through kurzweilai.net and sfn.org
Can your dog sniff your colon cancer?
References
Pet Detective: A Dog that Sniffs Out Colon Cancer, Time, By Meredith Melnick Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Pet Detective: A Dog that Sniffs Out Colon Cancer, Time, By Meredith Melnick Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Growth Hormone IGF2 is also a Memory Booster
References
- Growth Hormone Also a Memory Booster. February 2, 2011 Source: Science Now — Jan 26, 2011
- Growth Hormone Also a Memory Booster. February 2, 2011 Source: Science Now — Jan 26, 2011
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