OMAHA- Nebraska Medicine has announced a new partnership with Helix, the leading population genomics and viral surveillance company in the nation. The two entities announced a partnership to launch a population genomics program to drive precision medicine for all individuals in Nebraska called the Genetic Insights Project.

The research program will identify participants' risk for a variety of cancers and other potentially life-threatening diseases with a single test, with the goal of not only helping to improve the lives of individual patients but also identifying trends for everyone across the region. "This new genomics program will help patients and their providers understand if they're genetically predisposed to having an increased risk of one of several significant diseases," says Allison Cushman-Vokoun, MD, PhD, medical director of Nebraska Medicine's Molecular Diagnostics and Human Genetics Laboratories.

The Genetic Insights Project will provide important information about serious health conditions by testing for mutations in genes connected to a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome (which is related to colorectal cancer), and high cholesterol. The research program may also expand its panel of genetic markers in the future, potentially providing information about other conditions.

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