The agreement supports a vision of personalized healthcare to
Qatar's population
and beyond
ZURICH and BOSTON, April 16,
2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic
data management and analytics, today announced that it has formed a
partnership with Qatar Biobank.
BC Platforms will provide a Research Collaboration Management
System (RCMS) and Researchers' Portal for Qatar Biobank to support
the integration of genomic and phenotypic samples, enable secure
and streamlined data access, and optimize resource quality and
utilization.
Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF) and part of QF
Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI), collects data and
biological samples from the local population in an effort to
develop customized medical solutions to the various diseases and
health issues prevalent in the country.
Dr. Nahla Afifi, Director of
Qatar Biobank, said: "As the Qatar National Research Strategy
strives to improve the health and well-being of Qatar's population, scientific research
collaborations enabled by Qatar Biobank are the key to impacting
the future of personalised healthcare in Qatar and the region."
"We are delighted to partner with BC Platforms to access their
multi-omics technology capabilities to leverage our data for
research and ultimately to bring benefits to patients. Through our
efforts, we will enable researchers to discover how the health and
genetics of Qatar's population are
affected by their lifestyle and environment."
BC Platforms has over 20 years of experience in building
tertiary analytics tools enabling scalable phenotypic and
genetic data exploration, applied by customers in over 25
countries. Recent developments include ontology browsing and data
visualization dashboards which provide users with a visual and
contextual overview of massive datasets, customizable to
researchers' needs.
Tero Silvola, CEO of BC
Platforms, stated: "One of the big focus areas in technology
related development work is associated with available capabilities
to analyse all different types of data together. Qatar Biobank
is a globally unique resource and is considered to be one of the
leading personalised medicine programs globally. We are delighted
to support Qatar Biobank in achieving its goals in biomedical
research both regionally and globally."
Qatar Biobank has incubated Qatar Genome Programme (QGP),
another member of QF and part of QF RDI, which is a national
initiative aiming to map the genome of the local
population. QGP uses a collection of samples and data from
Qatar Biobank participants to identify genotype-phenotype
associations relevant to the Qatari population.
About BC Platforms
BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic
data management and analysis solutions. Our high performing genomic
data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure
analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information.
The company has launched and opened a global network of biobanks,
known as BCRQUEST.COM, to provide genomic and clinical cohort data
for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC
Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics
platform for healthcare and industry by 2020, providing access to
diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5
million subjects consolidated from a global network of
biobanks.
Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the
Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20
years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading
researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. BC Platforms
has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development
in Espoo, Finland, and sales and
marketing in London, Boston, and Vancouver.
For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or
follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms.
About Qatar Biobank
Qatar Biobank, a long-term health initiative, was launched by
Qatar to reduce the number of
chronic illnesses in the population and improve the health of
future generations through medical research on the causes of
prevalent illnesses. This is done by gathering biological samples
and information on the health and lifestyle of Qatar's people.
In the next few years, research based on the samples and
information gathered by Qatar Biobank will reveal the effect of
lifestyle, environment and genetics on Qatari population. It will
also provide insight into the reasons why certain individuals
develop specific illnesses. Qatar Biobank is a member of Qatar
Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and
works in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Hamad
Medical Corporation.
To learn more about Qatar Biobank and how to become a
contributor, please visit: www.qatarbiobank.org.qa
Contact information:
BC Platforms:
Tero
Silvola
BC Platforms AG
tero.silvola@bcplatforms.com
Katja Stout
Scius
Communications
katja@sciuscommunications.com