Next-generation DNA sequencing instruments are churning out data in such massive quantities that the informatics tools needed to analyze them can't keep pace. Genome-sequencing-instrument maker Illumina announced this week it will help address the problem by creating an online software development market. The company will provide developers with the application programming interface for one of its genetic analysis platforms in hopes that they will create and share new products.
The Union-Tribune of San Diego reports today:
Called BaseSpace Apps, the marketplace is a genomics version of Apple’s Apps Store, and it aims to break a bottleneck around software for analyzing genetic information. “The diversity of applications that our customers require is far beyond what any one (company) could provide, and the technology is evolving at a rate that our customers are looking for new solutions at a really fast clip,” Jordan Stockton, associate product planning director for Illumina, said this week.
Compounding the data-overload problem is the foreseen move of genomic data from research into mainstream medical uses. "And software to analyze genetic data will be a key part of the shift," the U-T San Diego reports.
"Informatics solutions available through BaseSpace Apps will allow customers to connect with a growing community of academic, commercial, and open source tool providers who are building applications around Illumina data to dramatically simplify and accelerate genomic data analysis," according to Illumina. The company named 14 app development partners: Diagnomics, GenoLogics Life Sciences, Genomatix, Golden Helix, Ingenuity Systems, Knome, Omicia, Spiral Genetics, Omixon, Real Time Genomics, Station X, Integromics Inc., Biomax Informatics AG, and Strand Life Sciences.
