Familial pancreatic cancer: an inheritable disease
Federico A. Monzon, MD, Invitae Medical Director of Oncology
This week, Invitae representatives will be on hand at the annual Seena Magowitz Foundation Golf Classic, which raises awareness and funds to help fight the battle against pancreatic cancer. By taking part in this event, we hope to help raise awareness of hereditary pancreatic cancer and support the foundation’s efforts to enable early detection, increased…
Unsung heroes of clinical care
In honor of the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, Invitae sat down with our laboratory directors for a Q&A about their experiences—from what brought them to the lab in the first place to what makes it all worthwhile. Anne Deucher, Martin Powers, and Adam Rosendorff keep the labs running at Invitae,…
The importance of responsible test ordering practices
Daniela Iacoboni, MS, CGC, Invitae genetic counselor
In the increasingly diverse next-generation sequencing genetic testing marketplace, Test Utilization Management Service (UM) is an important trend that promises to rein in the overuse of tests. This collaborative effort by pathologists, lab directors, and genetic counselors seeks to establish policies and algorithms that ensure the right test—and only the right test—is ordered for each…
CHEK2’s journey to bona fide inherited cancer susceptibility gene
Raluca Kurz, MS, LCGC, Invitae clinical genetic counselor
The discovery of the BRCA genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) 20 years ago heralded a new era in cancer prevention. For the first time, it was possible to potentially glimpse the future to avoid cancer. However, only about half of the strong hereditary breast and ovarian cancer family histories were attributable to mutations in these two…
What will you do for Purple Day?
Stephanie Gandomi, MS, LCGC, Invitae
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions, affecting more than 50 million people around the world. Yet it remains widely unrecognized or severely misunderstood, and far too often patients are stigmatized and isolated. Invitae is working with advocacy groups to change that. In honor of World Epilepsy Day on March 26, we recognize…
We support Rare Disease Day 2015
Dione Bailey, head of Marketing at Invitae
February 28 is the eighth annual Rare Disease Day, but raising awareness for rare disease shouldn’t be confined to just one day. Here are a few of the ways that Invitae supports rare and genetic disease communities and research year round. We collaborate. We partner with and support some of the world’s leading rare disease…
Learning from genetic counselors at the National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference in New Orleans
Erynn Gordon, Invitae genetic counselor
In late September, about 2,000 genetic counselors and students from around the country gathered in New Orleans for the National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Annual Education Conference. Focused on providing up-to-date information on medicine, research, and counseling across all areas of genetics from prenatal care to cardiology to oncology, this is the only conference devoted…
Invitae’s ALS Challenge
Erynn Gordon, Invitae genetic counselor
Invitae was challenged by genetic counselors at Ohio State University Medical Center and 23andMe to take on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness and money for ALS research. Several of Invitae’s employees have been affected by ALS. One employee, when asked what the ALS challenge meant to her, described moving to California to…
Genetics is about everybody
Randy Scott, biochemist and Invitae co-founder
Randy Scott talks about his family experience with rare genetic disorders and how it has helped shape Invitae’s mission: aggregate all the world’s genetic tests, lower the cost of genetic testing so that it’s affordable and accessible to nearly everyone, and fundamentally change healthcare.
Getting answers more quickly
Invitae genetic counselor Erynn Gordon on multi-gene testing for hereditary cancer syndromes
Erynn Gordon, genetic counselor at Invitae, explains how multi-gene panels have changed the landscape of genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes. Multi-gene panels enable healthcare providers to investigate syndromes at the same time, instead of taking several tests and waiting for the results each time. This means clinicians get answers more quickly and increases the…
Giving more patients access
Invitae’s Dr. Federico Monzon explains how multi-gene tests are speeding diagnoses and making genetic testing more accessible
Genetic testing used to be done one gene at a time. Thanks to technological advances, many genes can now be tested at once. Dr. Monzon, a molecular pathologist, explains how multi-gene testing reduces the time it takes to get a diagnosis, and how new technology lowers costs and enables more patients to access genetic testing.
Invitae is pleased to offer scholarships for NSGC’s 2014 Annual Education Conference
Invitae is excited to be able to offer scholarships to ten (10) Full or New Genetic Counselor Members of NSGC to attend the National Society of Genetic Counselors 2014 Annual Education Conference (AEC). Scholarship recipients will receive complimentary full registration (including CEU fee) and a travel stipend of $570. Drawing together thousands of genetic counselors, the…
Is better patient care dependent on sharing genetic data?
Invitae scientist John Garcia on reducing VUS rates through data sharing
The inevitable fall of VUS rates There has been a lot of discussion recently about the rate of Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUSs) in the field of genetic testing. The fact is that some VUSs are unavoidable in genetic testing; every patient has a background rate of genetic variants that cannot be definitively interpreted at…
Genome management? The rise of genome factories? A personal “Omics” cloud? A match.com for clinical trials?
Invitae’s Ruby Gadelrab on the audacious and achievable goals discussed at PMWC2014.
Over the course of two days last week, thought leaders from across multiple industries assembled at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley to discuss key themes in personalized medicine at the Personalized Medicine World Conference 2014 (PMWC). Having been in the genomics space for over 17 years and as now part of team that leads…
What does it take to make next-generation sequencing truly clinical?
Jon Sorensen, Invitae bioinformatician
Like many people deeply immersed in DNA sequencing, my first introduction to next-generation sequencing was a packed, standing-room only panel discussion at the 2003 Genomes, Medicine and Environment conference (née GSAC). It was two years before any NGS instrument was commercially available, and yet we had all gathered there because—although that year the price of…
Are physicians ready for the tsunami of genetic information that is headed towards the medical community?
Jill Hagenkord on the upcoming impact of genetic data on patient care
Adapt or Perish: Why All Doctors Will Need To Be Geneticists Earlier this month our Co-founder Randy Scott, posted a blog where he talks about moving from a world of Genetic Scarcity to a world of Genetic abundance. What are the implications for medical community? Lets face it, doctors don’t really know much genetics. Yes, we…
Can sharing your genetic information save a life or accelerate a cure?
Randy Scott, Invitae co-founder, describes Invitae’s mission
Last week, the world took a huge step forward toward a new era of personalized medicine when the Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring DNA cannot be patented. We applaud the Supreme Court decision. Now that we have the freedom to test all genes known to cause a hereditary disorder, we need to Free the…