FALLS CHURCH, Va. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inova Translational Medicine Institute and Personalis, Inc. today announced a partnership to advance genomic medicine for Inova’s patient population. Personalis will collaborate with Inova on whole genome analysis and interpretation for undiagnosed syndromes in an effort to provide patients and their families an answer for these difficult cases. “We see a large number of cases where conventional methods have been unable to provide a definitive result, and we feel our next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach is the future in terms of genome-based diagnosis,” said Dr. John Niederhuber, CEO of Inova Health System’s Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI). Dr. Niederhuber continued, “When we developed our large NGS diagnostic program at Inova, we knew that the clinical interpretation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) data was one of the most challenging issues involved in deriving meaningful clinical results. Our partnership with Personalis will enable us to provide the most advanced and clinically appropriate genome analysis and interpretation for our patients.”
“We are very excited to be working with ITMI on whole genome analysis,” said John West, CEO of Personalis. “They are at the forefront of applying genomic sequencing to clinical care, and understand the complexities of comprehensive and accurate analysis and interpretation.”
For patients with conditions of suspected genomic etiology where no clear answer has been found, the teams will work together to find answers. ITMI will perform WGS in an effort to uncover the genomic cause of the disease. Personalis will provide data analysis and clinical interpretation of the results to identify any likely genetic causes. The Inova team will then review the results and determine how best to use the genomic information in the management of patients’ care at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
“We look forward to a productive partnership that will result in better care for our patients and their families, especially those who have struggled to find answers that now may be within reach,” concluded Dr. Niederhuber of Inova.
About Inova Translational Medicine Institute:
The Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) is a not-for-profit research institute delving into the genomics component of personalized medicine. ITMI is utilizing genomic and clinical information from patients to develop innovative methods for personalized patient care. Studies at the Institute have generated a large genomic and clinical data set that can be used as data in a variety of fields, from computational biology to psychology as well as more obvious biomedical research applications. ITMI’s goal is to utilize information from its studies to better understand and predict the onset of disease, leading to the implementation of preventive medicine based on the unique genomics of the individual patient.
About Inova Health System:
Inova is a not-for-profit health care system located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, serving more than two million people with more than 1,700 licensed beds based in Northern Virginia. Inova consists of five hospitals including the area’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care unit. Inova encompasses many health services including the nationally and internationally recognized Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI), Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) on genomics, Inova Neuroscience Institute and Inova Children’s Hospital. Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. More information and statistics about Inova available at www.inova.org.
About Personalis
Personalis provides researchers and clinicians accurate DNA sequencing and interpretation of human exomes and genomes. We support researchers engaging in case-control, family-based, or proband-only genomic studies of disease, pharmacogenomics, and cancer. Our ACE (Accuracy and Content Enhanced) Technology™ supplements a standard exome or genome, substantially increasing its medically-relevant coverage and accuracy. Personalis builds on this enhanced sequencing foundation with innovative algorithms and proprietary databases for alignment, variant calling, annotation, and analysis. Through this comprehensive approach, we provide genomic data and interpretation of the highest accuracy.