News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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California’s Massive Microarray SNP Genotyping Project Processed Genetic Data from More Than 100,000 Volunteers and Characterized 70 Billion Genetic Variants in 14 months

Faster sequencing speed and accuracy could fuel growth of biomarkers and lead to development of new medical laboratory tests and therapeutic drugs

Trailblazing methods used to create a treasure trove of genetic data from 100,000 Californians could pay dividends for clinical laboratories and pathology groups if similar projects identify novel biomarkers and fuel the development of new clinical laboratory tests and therapeutic drugs.

In fact, California is once again in the forefront, this time with a major program to create a big database of genetic data. The program is called the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA). It is a collaboration between the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH) and the Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) that began in 2009. (more…)

Google’s Calico Start-up to Sequence Whole Human Genomes of Healthy 100-Year-Olds in Project to Solve Puzzle of Human Aging

If successful, the knowledge gained from this research may provide new tools and medical laboratory tests that pathologists can use in the management of geriatric patients

Google’s founders believe that analysis of the genomes of people who live to be 100 years old and are relatively healthy will allow them to solve the puzzle of human aging. They have funded a new company specifically to pursue this goal.

In the near future, it is unlikely that any of the science developed by this venture will lead to a diagnostic profile or clinical laboratory tests that pathologists can use to help clinicians who deal with the diseases associated with aging. But should the research team at Calico develop a better understanding of the dynamics of human aging, it would certainly be expected that this knowledge would be used to develop appropriate medical laboratory tests. (more…)

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