Renown Institute for Health Innovation, a Nevada-based nonprofit that launched the Healthy Nevada Project, is planning to expand the project by collaborating with Helix, a personal genomics company.
The Healthy Nevada Project is a community-based population health study using genetics, environmental data and individual health information to improve the health of the state's population.
For the next phase of the project, the Renown Institute for Health Innovation will join forces with Helix to offer an additional 40,000 Nevadans the chance to participate in the study and have their DNA sequenced. The research teams involved in the project will use Helix's proprietary next-generation sequencing technology and DNA-powered products to add more people to the study.
The pilot phase of the study used genotyping, but the second phase will use exome sequencing, which Helix specializes in, Joseph Grzymski, PhD, co-director of Renown IHI and principal investigator of the Healthy Nevada Project, said. Helix sequences a participant's DNA sample once and securely stores the information so the user can use many different DNA-powered applications.