Genomenon will give licenses for its Mastermind Genomic Search Engine to every clinical scientist at the Rare Genomics Institute. The Ann Arbor, Michigan, company announced the donation on October 19, 2018. The aim is to help the nonprofit analyze patient data faster, so diagnoses for rare diseases come sooner.
Rare Genomics Institute (RG) is a nonprofit, EIN 45-3624709. Since 2011, it has directly supported undiagnosed rare disease patients and their families. It links them with expert scientists and biomedical researchers who have access to advanced tools for diagnosis and research. The aim is to help patients find a diagnosis, a treatment and, eventually, a cure.
Mastermind connects a patient’s DNA with the published research needed to diagnose and treat cancer and rare diseases. According to Genomenon, it holds the world’s largest index of medical articles on genetic links between DNA and disease. Once the team has the professional edition, it can find evidence for a diagnosis more quickly. That matters because many of its patients have already seen several specialists without getting an answer.
Jimmy Lin, CEO of Rare Genomics, said sequencing and analysis have helped hundreds of rare disease patients over eight years. He explained that the team seeks the best software to read patient genomic data, so patients reach a diagnosis sooner. He added that the team was excited to bring Mastermind into its analysis workflow.
Genomenon CEO Mike Klein said the company was thrilled to back the institute. In his view, its work for rare disease patients is compelling, and Genomenon is proud to contribute.
Genomenon serves pharmaceutical companies and clinical diagnostic labs. Diagnostic labs use Mastermind to speed up the interpretation of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) results. Meanwhile, drug and life science firms license its knowledge base to find and rank genomic biomarkers for drug development. They also use it to identify trial patients and design gene panels. The company says its products support precision medicine with faster diagnosis and better treatment options for cancer and rare diseases.
RG was set up in 2011 to fill a care gap for undiagnosed patients and to back rare disease research. It arranges genetic sequencing and research services for individual patients through its own team and affiliates. It also runs an online community for patients and holds a yearly grant competition for researchers.
