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MAVERIX ADDS SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENTS TO GENOMIC ANALYSIS PLATFORM FOR RNA-SEQ RESEARCH
SAN MATEO, CA - Jun 18, 2014 - MAVERIX ADDS SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENTS TO
GENOMIC ANALYSIS PLATFORM
FOR RNA-SEQ RESEARCH
Enhanced design allows comparison of side-by-side results
from HTSeq/DESeq and Cufflinks
Maverix Biomics Inc., a leading genomic analysis software company,
today announced improved functionality for RNA-seq differential expression analysis on
the Maverix Analytic Platform, an industry leading cloud-based solution that enables life
science researchers to directly analyze, visualize, interrogate, and manage biological
sequence data in order to accelerate exploration and discovery. The enhancements will
enable scientists engaged in RNA-seq studies to better analyze differential expression
results through improved visualization for quality assessment of the data and for
identifying highly-confident genes uncovered by next generation sequencing of the
information-dense transcriptome.
The Maverix Analytic Platform now supports the latest version of Cufflinks, a popular
open source software application which assembles transcripts, estimates their quantity,
and tests for differential expression and regulation in RNA-seq samples. This new
version on the Maverix Analytic Platform allows multiple samples to be compared more
efficiently, resulting in enhanced functionality for the platforms turnkey RNA-seq
analysis.
Additionally, inherent in the design of the Maverix Analytic Platform is the ability to
easily launch two proven RNA-seq methods, Cufflinks and DESeq, and compare the
results side-by-side with the same ease-of-use, cost, flexibility and visualizations to
answer the most pressing questions about the transcriptome.
The platform organizes all-vs-all comparisons provided by Cufflinks into a dynamicallycontrollable
heat map, providing researchers an optimal way to select desired sample
comparisons, filter and sort by common parameters like p-value, fold-change, and
abundance, and quickly zoom in on a shortlist of targeted genes. The Maverix platform
also provides seamless integration with a secure, private implementation of the UCSC
Genome Browser, enabling alignment and coverage data from user experiments to be
viewed in context with hundreds of existing annotation tracks, and public datasets.
Dr. Jeanne Loring, Professor of Developmental Neurobiology, and Director of the Center
of Regenerative Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute, is advancing the study of
human stem cell research by applying powerful new cutting edge technologies, such as
next-generation sequencing.
Dr. Loring's group, including graduate student Kit Nazor, is building a repository of
comprehensive genomic and epigenomic data on human pluripotent stem cells and the
wide range of cell types that they can generate. They are focusing on neurological
diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer disease, multiple sclerosis, and
autism. The data resulting from these studies is enabling breakthroughs in understanding
the molecular basis of human disease and development of safe, effective stem cell-based
therapies.
"The Maverix RNA-Seq Analysis Kit provides us with a user-friendly means of quality
control and the ability to process data from large RNA sequencing experiments. What
really sets Maverix apart is that their platform simultaneously processes the data using
not just one but two of the most well accepted methods, said Nazor. There is no
mystery about how the data is processed, as the underlying code that is being used to
process the data is also provided at each stage. This has not only allowed us to understand
the intricacies of how the data was analyzed, but also provides a unique opportunity to
learn the basics of bioinformatics.
The Maverix Analytic Platforms filtering functions allow for an easy way to reduce the
data to a set of genes of interest based on significance and fold change values, and
provide contextualization of the identified significant transcripts with previously curated
data sets, said Dr. Loring.
Dr. Jeff Brockman is a Principal Scientist in the commercial animal heath and nutrition
field. He has been using cutting edge technologies such as next generation sequencing to
understand disease and the aging processes in companion animals, specifically dogs
(Canis lupus familiaris). By transitioning his organization from microarray platforms to
high throughput sequencing, Dr. Brockman has developed a cutting edge translational
genomics program to identify susceptibility biomarkers and candidate genes for
therapeutic intervention in multiple areas of animal health and nutrition.
The increased functionality from both the HTSeq/DESeq and Cufflinks pipelines
combined with the ease and convenience of analyzing large data sets in multiple ways is
what attracted me to the Maverix Analytic Platform, said Dr. Brockman. Its
incredibly seamless to identify differentially expressed genes in my canine samples and
dynamically compare differential expression results with alternate samples, such as those
from time-course studies. Instead of managing a multitude of files required by
competitive platforms, I can spend my time where its most critical -- exploring my
results to make new discoveries.
About the Maverix Analytic Platform
Maverix Analytic Platform is a cloud-based solution designed for use directly by life
sciences researchers who may not have software or bioinformatics expertise. It leverages
proven, open-source algorithms and applications developed at leading academic and
research centers. After loading sequence data from any organism (human, animal, plant,
or microbe), researchers are able to immediately perform analysis with reliable,
scientifically recommended configurations, as cited in peer- reviewed journal
publications. Visualization is provided through a variety of integrated graphical tools,
including the UCSC Genome Browser, the worlds most widely used genome browser.