BANGKOK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(APSHG Conference) – FDNA, developer of Face2Gene, today announces expansion of its growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region with the launch of its new Center of Research Excellence at the University of Hong Kong, as well as a strategic partnership with the Asia-Pacific Society of Human Genetics (APSHG).
These collaborations will help clinicians in the region to diagnose diseases that have a genetic cause more accurately. In addition, this expansion will provide meaningful opportunities for precision medicine previously limited due to challenges in accessing comprehensive genomic information for patients in this region.
Used by more than 70% of clinical geneticists globally, including physicians from over 500 clinical sites in Asia-Pacific countries, Face2Gene is a platform that uses next-generation phenotyping (NGP) technologies to analyze a patient’s facial and clinical features to highlight relevant syndromes, genes and phenotypes, facilitating comprehensive and precise genetic evaluations.
Led by Dr. Brian Hon-Yin Chung, Clinical Geneticist at University of Hong Kong, the FDNA Center of Excellence aims to advance genetic knowhow for Chinese populations.
“This is a major breakthrough in genetics for the region. Up to now, genetics has relied almost exclusively on data from Caucasian populations,” said Dr. Chung. “We are working to continue improving the facial analysis performance of Face2Gene for patients of Chinese origin, advancing genetics in China and allowing us to rapidly solve many mysteries of genetically-caused diseases for tens of millions of patients.”
In addition, FDNA and the Asia-Pacific Society of Human Genetics (APSHG) today announce a joint commitment to enhance Face2Gene’s technology, training it to recognize phenotypes for all Asia-Pacific ethnicities. As part of this commitment, APSHG is hosting a meeting at the annual APSHG conference in Bangkok, Thailand, together with FDNA and leading experts in genetics from multiple countries in this region to plan a roadmap for advancing precision medicine for patients in this region.
The program is led by Dr. Lai Poh-San, President, APSHG. Speaking on behalf of the Society, Poh-San expects the collaboration to have a profound impact in supporting geneticists’ ability to find causes of genetic diseases throughout the region.
“Up until now, there has been a relatively small amount of actionable genetic data specific to Asia-Pacific populations. This work can change this forever and impact the lives of tens of millions of patients,” said Dr. Poh-San. “In a short time, we’ve greatly increased our ability to make exciting discoveries and provide answers for patients who sorely need them.”
According to FDNA CEO Dekel Gelbman, these collaborations are already showing significant impact. Since the product’s inception, Face2Gene has analyzed facial images of tens-of-thousands of patients for more than 2,500 syndromes, and non-facial phenotypes for more than 10,000 syndromes, with nearly half of the data attributed to non-Caucasian ethnicities in over 130 countries. In the past month alone, early steps under these collaborations have already demonstrated significant increase in the performance of FDNA’s technology to identify phenotypes of patients affected by hundreds of genetic syndromes.
“Unlike other efforts, these collaborations emphasize the commitment to share data across the region and is putting these data to work immediately for clinicians with real patients,” said Dekel Gelbman, CEO, FDNA. “With this initial training complete, we plan to continue to expand this effort over the next year. We expect to see Face2Gene used even more frequently in Asia-Pacific regions with high impact on patient lives.”
About FDNA and Face2Gene
FDNA is the developer of
Face2Gene, a clinical suite of next-generation phenotyping applications
that facilitates comprehensive and precise genetic evaluations.
Face2Gene uses facial analysis, deep learning and artificial
intelligence to transform big data into actionable genomic insights to
improve and accelerate diagnostics and therapeutics. With the world’s
largest network of clinicians, labs and researchers creating one of the
fastest growing and most comprehensive genomic databases, FDNA is
changing the lives of patients with diseases with genetic causes. For
more information, visit www.FDNA.com.
Face2Gene is a registered trademark of FDNA Inc.
