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DNAnexus to Provide Informatics Infrastructure for ORIEN Initiative

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – DNAnexus said today that health informatics solutions provider M2Gen has selected its cloud platform to handle data access, management, collaboration, and analysis for the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network's (ORIEN) Avatar Research program.

Under the terms of the agreement, Avatar program partners will use DNAnexus' platform to manage, share, integrate, and analyze molecular data from consenting patients in a secure and scalable fashion.

"We selected DNAnexus for their expertise in consortia-scale data management solutions and their platform's best-in-class security and compliance," M2Gen CEO and Founder William Dalton said in a statement. According to DNAnexus CEO Richard Daly, the partnership frees M2Gen and its partners to focus on growing Avatar's membership and on research into new treatments for cancer patients. "We are proud to serve as the data nexus for the ORIEN Avatar Research program," he added.

Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Avatar program is based on ORIEN's Total Cancer Care Protocol. It provides a forum for patients, physicians, academic cancer centers, and pharmaceutical companies to collaborate on more effective cancer treatments for patients. Participating cancer researchers contribute samples and disease information from consenting, participating patients, and receive rich molecular data plus access to a network of potential collaborators. Pharma companies contribute financial support, and receive access to de-identified genetic and disease information that can be used to inform the discovery and clinical development of novel cancer therapeutics.

Earlier this month, HudsonAlpha Institute announced that it had agreed to provide whole-exome and RNA-sequencing of 20,000 patient tumor and non-tumor samples for the Avatar program.