Founders name five new members for Alliance for Genomic Discovery
The Alliance was launched last year by Illumina Inc. and Nashville Biosciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Illumina Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, and Nashville Biosciences LLC (NB), a leading clinical and genomic data company and wholly owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), have announced the five founding members of their Alliance for Genomic Discovery.
Launched in 2022 by Illumina and NB, the Alliance is a multiyear endeavor with a goal to accelerate development of therapeutics through large-scale genomics and the establishment of a preeminent clinical genomic resource. The newly named member companies from pharma and biopharma are able to leverage Illumina’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms to identify disease associations and targets for intervention by analyzing whole-genome sequence data derived from Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s BioVU®. The latter is an extensive, high-quality biobank of more than 250,000 de-identified human DNA samples and associated longitudinal, structured clinical data. One of the main objectives of the Alliance is to help narrow the gap in the diversity of genomic data, and ultimately work toward a more equitable representation of ancestries in genetic research.
The founding pharma companies joining the Alliance are AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Merck.
“Collaborations like the Alliance are fundamental to answering the pressing questions in human biology and disease, unlocking the potential for discovery of more effective therapeutics and diagnostics,” said Jeff Balser, President and Chief Executive Officer of VUMC and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “VUMC and Nashville Biosciences are honored to support our industry partners in this groundbreaking endeavor.”
Click here to read the news release.
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