NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Tute Genomics has teamed up with Google and researchers at the University of Texas to make a database of 8.5 billion genetic variant annotations publicly available through the Google Genomics infrastructure.
According to Tute, its database contains annotations for every single nucleotide variant in the human genome. Sources for these annotations include ClinVar, the 1000 Genomes Project, and the exome aggregation consortium. The database also includes conservation and evolutionary scores from tools like SIFT, Polyphen2, and MutationTaster. Google Genomics provides cloud computing infrastructure for storing, processing, exploring, and sharing genetic data.
With the information publicly accessible, researchers and clinicians will be able to use it in their everyday interactions with patients, supporting efforts to make precision medicine a reality, Tute said in a statement.
With the cost of next-generation sequencing dropping continually, "the time is coming when genome sequencing will be part of routine clinical care," Reid Robison, CEO of Tute Genomics, said. "Open access to genetic variant databases is a necessary step in order to accelerate progress towards precision medicine."