Tute Genomics is a

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

startup that provides a

cloud-based Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multip ...

web application for rapid and accurate annotation of human genomic data. Built on the expertise of ANNOVAR, Tute assists researchers in identifying disease genes and

biomarkers In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...

, and assists clinicians/labs in performing genetic diagnosis. Based in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

, Tute was co-founded by Dr. Kai Wang, an Assistant Professor at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC); and Dr. Reid J. Robison, a board-certified psychiatrist with fellowship training in both

neurodevelopmental The development of the nervous system, or neural development (neurodevelopment), refers to the processes that generate, shape, and reshape the nervous system of animals, from the earliest stages of embryonic development to adulthood. The fie ...

genetics and

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...

. The word "tute" means "personal" in the

Na’vi language In the 2009 science-fiction film ''Avatar'', director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional exoplanetary moon Pandora. The Earth-like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous ...

created for the 2009 film ''Avatar'' by

Paul Frommer Paul R. Frommer (; born September 17, 1944) is an American communications professor at the University of Southern California (USC) and a linguistics consultant. He is the former Vice President, Special Projects Coordinator, Strategic Planner, a ...

, a linguist and communications professor at the

USC Marshall School of Business The USC Marshall School of Business is the business school of the University of Southern California. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In 1997 the school was renamed following a $35 million donation fr ...

. Tute Genomics was acquired by PierianDX in 2016.

Timeline

2013 * Tute Genomics launched in 2013 and entered the accelerator, BoomStartup. By "demo day" of BoomStartup, Tute had raised their seed round of funding and expanded the round to include angel investors from SLC Angels, Park City Angels, Life Science Angels. Tute was the tenth ever online syndicate for

AngelList AngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startup ...

and in all raised a seed round of $1.5 million. 2014 * In March 2014, the company announced that Affiliated Genetics, a Utah-based

CLIA CLIA may refer to: * Chemiluminescent immunoassay * Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments * Cruise Lines International Association Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is a cruise line trade association. It merged with Internationa ...

-certified laboratory, selected Tute Genomics for its

next-generation sequencing Massive parallel sequencing or massively parallel sequencing is any of several high-throughput approaches to DNA sequencing using the concept of massively parallel processing; it is also called next-generation sequencing (NGS) or second-generation s ...

(NGS) analytics pipeline. * In May 2014, the company announced joining the

Global Alliance for Genomics and Health The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is an international consortium that is developing standards for responsibly collecting, storing, analyzing, and sharing genomic data in order to enable an "internet of genomics". GA4GH was founded ...

. * In June 2014, Advanced Biological Laboratories (ABL), S.A., announced a licensing and collaboration agreement with Tute Genomics and the commercial launch of OncoChek for managing and analysing genomics data in the field of

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

. * In July 2014, the company announced an agreement with Lineagen, Inc., to provide next-generation sequencing analytics for Lineagen’s NextStepDx Plus assay. Also,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

selected the Tute Genomics genome annotation and discovery platform for analysis and interpretation of 1,000

exomes The exome is composed of all of the exons within the genome, the sequences which, when transcribed, remain within the mature RNA after introns are removed by RNA splicing. This includes untranslated regions of messenger RNA (mRNA), and codin ...

and

genomes In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding gen ...

. * In November 2014, the company announced addition of the Tute platform to Illumina’s BaseSpace. * The company announced a Series A1 funding round of $2.3 million in December 2014. The round was led by UK-based Eurovestech. Peak Ventures and a number of angel investors also participated in this round. 2015 * Tute recruits David Mittelman, founder of Arpeggi, Inc. and former CSO at

FamilyTreeDNA FamilyTreeDNA is a division of Gene by Gene, a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas. FamilyTreeDNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA to individuals for genealogical purpose. With a database of ...

, to Tute Genomics as Chief Scientific Officer. *Tute acquires

Knome Knome, Inc. was a human genome interpretation company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2007, Knome focused on improving quality of life by applying scientific insights gained from the Whole genome sequencing, interpretation of huma ...

and integrates the KnoSys platform into its software product. 2016 * Reid Robison, Tute CEO, launches a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to sell Tute interpreted whole genome and whole exome sequencing directly to consumers. The campaign was suspended within the same month after receiving a letter from the United States

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

. * Tute is acquired by PierianDX.

References

{{reflist Web applications