Knome

Last updated
Knome, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Information technology
Founded2007
FateAcquired by Tute Genomics, Inc. in 2015 (which later becomes a subsidiary of PierianDX, Inc. in 2016)
Headquarters,
Key people
  • Dr. George Church (founder & Chief Scientific Advisor)
  • Jorge Conde (founder)
  • Sundar Subramaniam (founder & Chairman)


ServicesHuman genome interpretation

Knome, Inc. was a human genome interpretation company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2007, Knome focused on improving quality of life by applying insights gained from the interpretation of human genomes. They helped identify and classify the variants, genes, and gene sets that are likely to govern or underlie a specific disease, tumor, or drug response. Their clients included academic, pharmaceutical and medical researchers. In 2015, it was acquired by Tute Genomics. [1]

Contents

Technology

Knome developed technologies that automated many of the manual tasks involved in interpreting whole human genomes. These technologies were designed to address the informatics and workflow bottlenecks that typically hinder whole genome interpretation. The company's core technology, kGAP, was developed in 2009 and served as the foundation for a number of Knome's products and services including the knoSYS® platform.

Products and services

For academic, pharmaceutical, and medical researchers, Knome offered:

knoSYS® Platform
Provides labs with a scalable, production-grade informatics system for the analysis, annotation, and interpretation of human next-gen sequence data (genome, exome, targeted gene). [2]
knomeDISCOVERY
Research services include project-driven curation, sophisticated informatics, and in-depth interpretation by Knome's team of experienced geneticists. [3]

Timeline

In the media

New York Times
In February 2013, the New York Times featured the knoSYS: "a powerful computer packed with software has arrived to interpret sequences privately within the walls of a lab". [8]
NOVA
In March 2012, Knome appeared on a special episode of NOVA , "Cracking Your Genetic Code". In the show, Knome helped describe how the interpretation of human genomes is helping to solve medical mysteries and revolutionize personal healthcare. [9]
Faces of America
In September 2011, Knome was featured in the four-part PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The series followed Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as he used advanced genetics tools to explore the ancestral histories of 12 renowned Americans, uncovering unique stories of immigration that illuminate the American experience. On the program, Knome scientists illuminated the striking "mosaic" of ancestry in Professor Gates' and his father's genomes, tracing their ancestry to Africa, Europe, and beyond. By comparing the two genomes to each other, they revealed the shared genetic heritage of a father and son, including aspects of their health risks and strengths. Further, by documenting the parts of their genomes that the two men did not share, Knome's analysis offered a glimpse of the genome of Professor Gates' late mother. [10]
Ozzy Osbourne
In 2010, Knome famously interpreted the genomes of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. The study uncovered notable differences in Ozzy's genes that were linked to drug and alcohol response, which shed light on how the famously hard-living rocker has survived decades of drug abuse. Several major news outlets including CNN [11] [12] and ABC [13] picked up the story.

Related Research Articles

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Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, computer programming, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. The subsequent process of analyzing and interpreting data is referred to as computational biology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human genome</span> Complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans

The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the nuclear genome and the mitochondrial genome. Human genomes include both protein-coding DNA sequences and various types of DNA that does not encode proteins. The latter is a diverse category that includes DNA coding for non-translated RNA, such as that for ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, ribozymes, small nuclear RNAs, and several types of regulatory RNAs. It also includes promoters and their associated gene-regulatory elements, DNA playing structural and replicatory roles, such as scaffolding regions, telomeres, centromeres, and origins of replication, plus large numbers of transposable elements, inserted viral DNA, non-functional pseudogenes and simple, highly repetitive sequences. Introns make up a large percentage of non-coding DNA. Some of this non-coding DNA is non-functional junk DNA, such as pseudogenes, but there is no firm consensus on the total amount of junk DNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genomics</span> Discipline in genetics

Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dimensional structural configuration. In contrast to genetics, which refers to the study of individual genes and their roles in inheritance, genomics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of all of an organism's genes, their interrelations and influence on the organism. Genes may direct the production of proteins with the assistance of enzymes and messenger molecules. In turn, proteins make up body structures such as organs and tissues as well as control chemical reactions and carry signals between cells. Genomics also involves the sequencing and analysis of genomes through uses of high throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to assemble and analyze the function and structure of entire genomes. Advances in genomics have triggered a revolution in discovery-based research and systems biology to facilitate understanding of even the most complex biological systems such as the brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Church (geneticist)</span> American geneticist

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The completion of the human genome sequencing in the early 2000s was a turning point in genomics research. Scientists have conducted series of research into the activities of genes and the genome as a whole. The human genome contains around 3 billion base pairs nucleotide, and the huge quantity of data created necessitates the development of an accessible tool to explore and interpret this information in order to investigate the genetic basis of disease, evolution, and biological processes. The field of genomics has continued to grow, with new sequencing technologies and computational tool making it easier to study the genome.

Public health genomics is the use of genomics information to benefit public health. This is visualized as more effective preventive care and disease treatments with better specificity, tailored to the genetic makeup of each patient. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), Public Health genomics is an emerging field of study that assesses the impact of genes and their interaction with behavior, diet and the environment on the population's health.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whole genome sequencing</span> Determining nearly the entirety of the DNA sequence of an organisms genome at a single time

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exome sequencing</span> Sequencing of all the exons of a genome

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References

  1. "Tute Genomics Acquires Knome". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  2. "Informatics and Genomic Interpretation System - knoSYS®". Knome. Archived from the original on 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  3. "Human Genome Research Services - knomeDISCOVERY". Knome. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  4. Harmon, Amy (4 March 2008). "Gene Map Becomes a Luxury Item". The New York Times.
  5. "Knome Assists Canadian Team Identify Parkinson's Disease Gene". bio-itworld.com. 2011-07-12. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19.
  6. "Johns Hopkins Taps Knome to Analyze Data for 1K Genome Asthma Study". GenomeWeb. 9 January 2012.
  7. "Days after scrapping crowdfunding campaign, Tute accepts PierianDx buyout bid | FierceBiotech". www.fiercebiotech.com. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
  8. Eisenberg, Anne (2 February 2013). "Genomic Analysis, the Office Edition". The New York Times.
  9. "NOVA - Cracking Your Genetic Code". pbs.org.
  10. ""Faces of America: Know Thyself" credits - Faces of America - PBS". Faces of America.
  11. "Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne: Who's healthier?". cnn.com. 2010-10-29. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17.
  12. "DNA Day: Meet the Osbournes' geneticist". cnn.com. 2011-04-15. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017.
  13. ABC News (2010-11-02). "Genetic Mutations Let Ozzy Osbourne Party Hard - ABC News". ABC News.