In a move that directly addresses the problems plaguing the ability to conduct statistically-driven analysis of clinical genomic data (as described in the previous post), Qiagen and LabCorp have teamed up with multiple prestigious academic institutions to form the Allele Frequency Community.
This group will pool its anonymized genomic data to allow for better power in interpreting variations of unknown significance. It describes itself as a “freely accessible “opt-in” community resource designed to facilitate sharing of anonymized, pooled allele frequency statistics among laboratories for the benefit of patients and biomedical research.”
Collaborations such as this must surely be the only way that sufficient amounts of data can inform clinical decision-making in a whole genome sequencing world.