Ming here is another on Dnaphenomics/Dnaprint Genome - Services
DNA Phenomics' research services include contract genotyping and SNP discovery.
Methods of Discovery
Until now, it has been very difficult and exceptionally expensive to determine which genetic characteristics make a person a good responder or poor responder to a drug. The reason for this is that most drug reaction traits are multi-factorial and heterogeneous in nature and exceedingly difficult to solve using traditional research methods. Because of this, scientists have often been forced to focus on problems involving simple traits caused by single genes. The difficulty lies in the fact that most healthcare problems are not simple. The large majority of human traits are exceptionally complex.
Recently, mathematical techniques and genotyping procedures have been developed which allow for a detailed exploration of the human genome and the discovery of elements within the genome which are systematically associated with those traits.
Until recently, to explain or solve the problem of differential drug response, for example, it has been necessary to perform pan-genome screening, but one cannot explain the genomic basis for these traits simply by screening genomes with randomly selected or publicly available markers. Our competitors do this - they select a small number of SNPs in a small number of genes (called a "Candidate gene" approach) in an attempt to study extreme responder and non-responder phenotypes. If they pick the wrong SNPs or genes, they do not find a solution - this is the problem with the traditional research approach used my most companies.
Another approach is to look at the entire genome. Genome based linkage analysis in large populations of unrelated individuals is not cost effective since it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient to do this type of study properly. Other companies use "isolated populations" to bring the costs down, but this approach carries significant disadvantages because their results do not necessarily generalize to other populations.
As a result of these problems it has been difficult to obtain an accurate, predictive genomics based test. Only recently have new procedures been developed that provide a solution.
DNA Phenomics relies on an unusually innovative approach called Mapping by Admixture Linkage Disequilibrium (MALD), using a statistical program called ADMIXMAP. This method allows us to obtain more information and lower our costs of discovery making it possible to uncover the causal genetic factors underlying traits such as drug reactivity.
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