Qiagen backs new Allele Frequency Community research initiative

Qiagen has pledged its support for the new Allele Frequency Community, an initiative aimed at creating an extensive, high-quality and ethnically diverse collection of human genomes.

Established by a coalition of 13 public and private organisations, the community's database already holds more than 70,000 variant datasets, including 8,000 whole genomes. It has been shown in internal benchmarking studies to generate a 43 percent average reduction in false positive rates in causal variant identification.

As one of the founding collaborators, Qiagen is providing bioinformatics infrastructure and software for the development of this community-based resource.

It is hoped that this will lead to dramatic new advances in the field of translational medicine and clinical diagnostics by enhancing understanding of disease-causing gene variants and rare conditions.

Dr Doug Bassett, vice-president of translational research and chief scientific officer at Qiagen Bioinformatics, said: "We look forward to working closely with the Allele Frequency Community to address the pressing need for high-quality, diverse allele frequency information, which is vital to realising the full potential of personalised healthcare."

This comes after the firm expanded its capabilities with the acquisition of the enzyme solutions business of Enzymatics earlier this year.