laboratory informatics


News D


For regular news updates, please visit www.scientific-computing.com/news


Digital Science invests in cloud lab company


igital Science has made an investment in Transcriptic, a robotic cloud laboratory for life sciences based in Menlo Park, California,


USA. Te investment increases Digital Science’s portfolio of technology investments in the research, science and healthcare sectors. Digital Science will also hold a seat on


the board of Transcriptic, which describes itself as ‘a robotic cloud laboratory for life sciences’. Te aim of the organisation is to free researchers to focus on the creative aspects of their science by providing faster, more reliable and repeatable processes, with lower capital costs than previously possible. Te web interface allows biologists to control their science and generate data from virtually anywhere in the world. As an active early-stage investor in


technology support tools and services aimed at enhancing the performance of research, science and digital laboratory sector, Digital Science targets businesses that complement its ecosystem of services in the research and scientific services space, and funds and develops online products and services to empower researchers to be more efficient;


Transcriptic is a robotic cloud laboratory for life sciences


pushing research to be more reproducible and of higher quality. Its portfolio companies include a host


of brands including Altmetric, BioRAFT, Figshare, Labguru, Overleaf, ReadCube, GRID, TetraScience, Symplectic and ÜberResearch. It is operated by global media company, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Commenting on the investment, Digital Science CEO Daniel Hook said: ‘Our mission


at Digital Science is to bring innovative tools to researchers that allow them to spend more time where they add most value, so Transcriptic is a perfect fit for us. ‘In addition to sharing very similar


goals, there is also significant potential for co-operation and integration with other products in our portfolio of companies, including Tetrascience, Labguru, BioRAFT and Figshare.’


AGILENT EXPANDS DATA PROCESSING OFFERING FOR MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY


Agilent has released Cartagenia Bench Lab 5.0, a new version of its lab software with capabilities for somatic variant classification and reporting. Cartagenia Bench Lab is designed to help laboratories involved in clinical genetics and molecular pathology efficiently interpret and report on genomic variants. The clinical-grade software platform – registered as an exempt Class I Medical Device in the US – has become the platform of choice for many high-throughput diagnostic labs to help them validate and automate their variant assessment and reporting pipelines.


The software enables clinical geneticists and molecular pathologists to combine single nucleotide polymorphisms; small insertions and deletions (INDELs); and copy number variations into one seamless analysis. Variant curation tools allow them to review variants, collaboratively build evidence and securely share it with their peers and data-sharing communities. The software’s variant curation tools enable labs to build an internal knowledge base of predictive, prognostic, diagnostic and functional evidence of previously curated variants. By accessing


8 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD


tumour type-ontology and variant information from the curated and public databases, labs can efficiently implement their variant assessment standard operating procedure to more effectively filter variants and access knowledge based on the tumour’s tissue type. ‘We have always worked closely with our customers to identify their needs and translate those into new software releases,’ said Herman Verrelst, Agilent vice president and general manager of the company’s Genomics Solutions Division and Clinical Applications Division. ‘Translating genomic data into actionable information


is challenging. Today’s launch demonstrates our commitment to providing leading-edge solutions for clinical diagnostics. The 5.0 release offers molecular pathology labs access to clinical-grade analysis tools and knowledge – one of the key pain points for the implementation of next-generation sequencing in routine oncology testing – to help them efficiently interpret sequencing data of tumour samples and provide actionable information by accessing publicly and curated databases containing peer reviewed evidence on diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic variants.’


@scwmagazine l www.scientific-computing.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32