Genuity Science Announces Strategic Collaboration with Nashville Biosciences

Agreement provides use of extensive real world clinical data and clinical research samples across multiple high priority disease areas

BOSTON, Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Genuity Science, a U.S.-headquartered contract genomics and data-sourcing, -analytics and -insights organization, today announces an agreement with Nashville Biosciences, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), who leverage one of the world's largest and highest quality clinico-genomic repositories to advance life science R&D. The strategic collaboration will enable target and biomarker discovery, validation and drug development, as a part of Genuity Science's prioritized disease research, in partnership with biopharma.

Nashville Biosciences was created to facilitate commercial R&D uses of VUMC's comprehensive and growing BioVU® biorepository, such as this agreement with Genuity Science. BioVU® is comprised of ~250,000 banked DNA samples linked to de-identified medical records with more than 10 years of longitudinal clinical data. This combination aligns well with Genuity Science's strategy of combining robust Whole Genome Sequence data with deep clinical phenotypic data, which offers the opportunity for unparalleled scientific insights for therapeutic advancement. Genuity Science will process the biosamples and de-identified clinical data through its Dublin-based facility and, in turn, sequence and harmonize the data to expand its existing clinical 'omics database for secure, controlled access by partners in the biopharma industry.

Leeland Ekstrom, PhD, COO of Nashville Biosciences commented, "The collaboration with Genuity Science allows us to maximize the impact of our biorepository to support research and accelerate drug discovery and development. We were impressed by how well aligned our two organizations are in both scientific approach and rigor applied to data security and compliance. We  look forward to a long and productive relationship with Genuity spanning multiple disease areas."

Anne Jones, PhD, COO of Genuity Science said, "Adding the bioresources and clinical data from Nashville Biosciences to Genuity Science's own clinical 'omics database will help create some of the largest disease datasets in the world. The potential for drug discovery and development from these datasets combined with our existing, more homogenous Irish dataset is truly unmatched. We are very proud to partner with this well-regarded research institution."

About Genuity Science

Genuity Science is a contract genomics and data-sourcing, -analytics and -insights organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA with offices in Dublin, Ireland and Reykjavik, Iceland. Genuity partners with global biopharma companies to offer deep end-to-end discovery services aimed at catalyzing precision health and improving the quality of life for patients around the world. Services include population-scale, disease-specific data sourcing, high-quality sequencing, robust statistical analysis and software tools for analyzing large datasets and artificial intelligence (AI). The company operates advanced CAP/CLIA genomics laboratories in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA and in Dublin, Ireland and is deeply committed to data stewardship and data governance across its global offices. For more information, see www.genuitysci.com.

About Nashville Biosciences

Nashville Biosciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), was created to harness the Medical Center's extensive genomic and bioinformatics resources for drug and diagnostics discovery and development. Leveraging Vanderbilt University Innovation™, Nashville Biosciences serves as a commercial interface between outside companies and the formidable research capabilities housed within VUMC, including BioVU®, one of the world's most comprehensive genetic databases linked to de-identified medical records with years of longitudinal clinical data. This unique asset is one of the largest and highest quality of its kind, providing an unprecedented opportunity to guide R&D activity in biotech, pharma, diagnostics, medical devices and other life sciences applications.

For more information, please visit www.nashville.bio or follow us on Twitter @NashvilleBio.