Learn more about Helix

Summary

Helix is a population genomics company on a mission to make genomic data easily accessible for physicians, enabling more precise clinical decisions. By digitizing individual genomes, Helix supports personalized medicine, helping patients understand disease risks, optimize drug treatments, and make informed health decisions throughout their lives. Their Exome+ Assay embodies the principle of 'Sequence Once, Query Often™,' providing critical genomic insights. Beyond clinical care, Helix has played a major role in combating COVID-19 through large-scale testing and viral surveillance. Ultimately, Helix envisions genetic information as a routine, vital part of healthcare, improving lives through DNA-driven insights.

Takeaways

• 🧬 Helix is a population genomics company focused on making genomic data easily accessible for physicians to improve patient care.
• 🏥 Their mission is to integrate genomics into clinical care and advance precision medicine for longer, healthier lives.
• 🧪 Genomics reveals information about an individual's traits, disease risks, and overall DNA profile.
• 💻 Helix allows patients and organizations to digitize genomes, making genetic information accessible at the point of care.
• 🔄 The 'Sequence Once, Query Often™' approach enables one-time genome sequencing to answer multiple health questions over a lifetime.
• 🧫 The Exome+ Assay sequences the most important parts of the genome, supporting the Sequence Once, Query Often™ model.
• 💊 Genetic information helps guide personalized medicine, including drug prescriptions and assessing disease risks like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
• 🦠 Helix contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic response by scaling diagnostic labs and building viral surveillance capabilities to track variants like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron.
• 🌍 The company runs one of the largest clinical sequencing facilities in the U.S., including the largest COVID diagnostics lab on the West Coast.
• 🚀 Helix envisions a future where genetic data becomes a standard part of healthcare, providing valuable insights to improve patient outcomes.

Q & A

What is Helix and what does it specialize in?

Helix is a population genomics company that focuses on making genomic data accessible and useful for clinical decision-making by physicians.

How does Helix aim to impact patient health?

Helix aims to help patients live longer and healthier lives by integrating genomic data into clinical care, supporting personalized and precise medical treatments.

What is the significance of genomic data in medicine?

Genomic data provides insights into an individual's genetic makeup, including disease risks, physical traits, and responses to medications, making it a revolutionary tool in personalized medicine, similar to the impact of radiology.

What does 'Sequence Once, Query Often™' mean?

'Sequence Once, Query Often™' is Helix's approach where a person’s genome is sequenced once, and the data can be queried multiple times over their life to answer various health questions, such as disease risk, drug suitability, and family planning.

What is the Exome+ Assay and why is it important?

The Exome+ Assay is a genomic sequencing method that focuses on the most important parts of the genome, enabling Helix to generate meaningful genomic data for each individual, supporting the Sequence Once, Query Often™ approach.

How has Helix contributed during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Helix has supported the pandemic by scaling COVID diagnostic testing laboratories and building a viral surveillance system to track variants like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron, helping healthcare systems understand viral spread and risks.

What role does Helix play in drug development and precision medicine?

Helix supports life science and pharmaceutical companies by providing genomic data that enables the development of personalized medicines, where treatments are tailored based on a patient's genetic profile.

Why is genomic information considered stable over a person’s life?

Genetic information does not change over the course of a person’s life, which allows it to be sequenced once and referenced repeatedly to answer different health questions throughout their lifetime.

What does Helix mean by integrating genetic data into routine care?

Helix envisions a future where genetic information becomes a standard part of medical care, similar to other common data points, so that it can inform diagnosis, treatment, and preventive strategies routinely.

What is the overall mission of Helix?

Helix's mission is to improve lives through DNA by making genomic data accessible and actionable for healthcare providers, enabling more precise, personalized, and effective medical care.

What distinguishes Helix’s clinical sequencing facilities?

Helix operates some of the largest clinical sequencing facilities in the United States and the world, including the largest COVID diagnostics laboratory on the West Coast, demonstrating its scale and capability in genomic testing.