G-KnowMe, University of Cambridge and NHS trust, collaborate to automate clinical interpretation of whole genome sequencing in cancer

Partnership aims to automate clinical interpretation of  data from sequencing the entire genome of cancers

Bangalore-based informatics startup G-KnowMe has entered into a partnership with researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge  University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) to develop an automated workflow for interpreting data from sequencing the entire genome of cancers. 

As genome sequencing costs drastically fall, the line between its usage in clinical research and clinical management of the disease is blurred. The lure to extract maximum patient relevant information is increasing, for better management of the disease. 

“Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of cancers is emerging as the new paradigm in cancer management as  Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology scales and the cost of sequencing drops.  But timely interpretation of the data to make informed clinical decisions is the challenge.  Clinical interpretation of WGS data for the breast cancer patient management will be  developed under this collaboration’’, commented Professor Jean Abraham, Director of the  Precision Breast Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge. “To achieve this at scale,”  she added, “we need to rely on cutting-edge automation and natural language processing  tools powered by artificial intelligence.” 

“G-KnowMe is  leveraging its combined expertise in AI and cancer biology to develop solutions that enable  adoption of large panels in clinical management of cancer. While our platform G-KnowMiner  is already in use by large diagnostics labs the Indian market to interpret data from NGS  panels used for cancer diagnostics, expanding its scope to interpreting WGS data, within a  clinically relevant time frame is what we aim to achieve through this partnership”,  commented Nimisha Gupta’’, Founder, G-KnowMe.