Ingenuity Systems and Erasmus University Medical Center Collaborate on Next-Generation Sequencing Project to Accelerate Disease Research

REDWOOD CITY, California, January 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- IPA(R) used to identify and prioritize novel causal variant

Ingenuity(R) Systems, a leading provider of information solutions for life science researchers, and Erasmus Medical Center, jointly announced a scientific collaboration using next-generation sequencing (NGS) for disease research.

As part of the collaboration, Erasmus researchers have been working closely with Ingenuity to derive the most impactful biological insights from their NGS data. Using Ingenuity's IPA software and the Ingenuity(R) Knowledge Base, Erasmus MC researchers are able to map and contextualize genes and variants related to biological processes, functions, diseases, pathways, compounds, and relationships, and obtain a more complete biological picture from their NGS data.

"Like many researchers, we faced the challenge of sifting through thousands of variants in order to rapidly identify the few that were the best candidates for follow-up studies and those most likely to be causal for our disease phenotype," said Professor Peter van der Spek, Ph.D., Erasmus University Medical Center. "IPA helped us overcome this challenge and discover a novel causal variant in a disease area of interest. It provides the critical biological context necessary to realize the full potential of NGS datasets, thanks to its high-quality, detailed biomedical content and powerful analysis capabilities. We're excited about Ingenuity's investments and capabilities in the NGS space and look forward to our continued partnership."

"We are honored to collaborate with Erasmus University Medical Center on their NGS programs, and pleased they were able to obtain their desired results so quickly with IPA," said Doug Bassett, Ph.D, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Ingenuity Systems. "We're excited to see this validation of IPA's role in NGS research and its ability to provide meaningful insights for researchers leveraging NGS data. We're looking forward to our ongoing collaboration and translating the results of this collaboration into new product capabilities."

About Ingenuity(R) Systems

Ingenuity Systems is a leading provider of information solutions and custom services for life science researchers, computational biologists and bioinformaticists, and life science industry suppliers. For more information visit: http://www.ingenuity.com

About Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam

Erasmus MC is the largest and most authoritative scientific University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Almost 13,000 staff members work within the core tasks of patient care, education, and scientific research on the continuous improvement and enforcement of individual patient care and social healthcare. They develop high-level knowledge, pass this on to future professionals, and apply it in everyday patient care. Over the next five years, Erasmus MC wants to grow into one of the best medical institutes in the world. Erasmus MC is part of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU). See http://www.nfu.nl