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June 06, 2019
As part of its effort to build a presence in the healthcare market, Google has been teaming with genomic-minded companies to form alliances seeking to leverage the Google Cloud Platform for diagnostic testing purposes.
Why Google Cloud?
It makes sense. Google’s strength in search, security and compliance make it an attractive partner for up and coming genomics firms. The speed of the Google Cloud is also as attractive to labs as it is to firms in other industries that are using the platform in myriad ways. Here’s a quick summary of four of the key diagnostics deals and the products Google Cloud is being used to leverage for diagnostics applications.
>Genomenon
Genomic search company Genomenon is partnering with Google to offer genomic data technology on Google Cloud Platform. Genomenon’s Cited Variants Reference (CVR) data will be a public dataset available in BigQuery, Google Cloud’s big data and machine learning data warehouse for use in genomic applications.
The CVR is generated from Genomenon’s Mastermind genomic database, a comprehensive index of genomic literature. With more than 4.1 million genomic variants found in medical literature, each variant is annotated with a citation count based on the number of scientific publications mentioning the variant, along with a link into the Mastermind Genomic Search Engine to view full search results for those articles. The CVR is designed to help clinicians and researchers prioritize and scale their genomic interpretation.
>Parabricks
Parabricks, a provider of GPU-based bioinformatics software solutions for analysis of next-generation sequencing data, recently collaborated with Google as a tech partner to launch its accelerate, deep learning based product suite for primary and secondary analysis on the Google Cloud Platform.
The Parabricks solution reduces the time and cost required to go from raw sequencing data to variants for a whole genome, producing variant calls in less than an hour compared to the standard 30 hours when running the same industry standard pipeline on HPC CPU clusters. The suite provides push-button operation, 100% reproducibility and containerization of the latest secondary analysis tools by bioinformaticians worldwide.
>WuXi NextCODE
WuXi NextCODE, a genomic information company that uses sequence data to improve health, has partnered with Google to deliver comprehensive genomics capabilities to partners and customers worldwide. The alliance calls for Google to host WuXi NextCODE's core suite of capabilities, including GORdb, WuXi NextCODE secondary analysis, Sequence Miner case-control research application and Clinical Sequence Analyzer clinical interpretation system. At the same time, key Google genomics and research tools will be integrated and deployed in tandem with the WuXi NextCODE platform, beginning with the DeepVariant secondary analysis pipeline, alongside other open-source analysis pipelines and tools available through Google Cloud Platform.
>IntegraGen
A company specializing in the decoding of the human genome with a focus on producing interpretable genomic analysis for academic and private laboratories, IntegraGen is collaborating with Google to integrate its advanced genomic analysis tools, Sirius and Mercury, into the Google Cloud Platform. The arrangement will enable widespread online availability of data, rapid data transfer, and enhanced data security to clinicians and researchers utilizing these analytical tools.
Takeaway
Google is here to stay and you can expect other lab companies to team up with the tech giant, specifically via entering strategic alliances aimed at using the Google Cloud Platform to deliver diagnostic testing services and products for both commercial and research use.
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This article originally appeared in G2 Intelligence, National Intelligence Report, June 2019
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