CHICAGO (GenomeWeb) – Genome informatics vendor DNAnexus said today that it will support the AstraZeneca Centre for Genomics Research in its efforts to analyze as many as 2 million genomes over the next 10 years in the name of more precise drug discovery.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, Mountain View, California-based DNAnexus indicated that it would work with AstraZeneca to develop a "secure genomics informatics environment" to manage the wide-scale sequencing analytics.
"The requirements of this project — including, in particular, the ability to (a) manage high volumes of genomic data in a secure and compliant fashion; (b) facilitate the integration of genetic data with other data types, and (c) enable global collaboration around these data — were a natural fit for the DNAnexus translational informatics platform," DNAnexus Chief Medical Officer David Shaywitz explained in a blog post this morning.
DNAnexus already supports Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Regeneron Genetics Center in its joint effort with GlaxoSmithKline to sequence the entire UK Biobank, currently numbering about 500,000 samples. This project follows a November 2016 deal between Regeneron and Mount Sinai Health System to perform whole-exome sequencing on samples from the BioMe Biobank.