Patient-centric digital biobank for rapid at-home precision medicine research

Our inability to predict personalised disease progression (i.e. why do some people suffer more severely than others or respond differently to treatments) drastically reduces our ability to treat complex disease. Personalised medicine requires multiple sources of data on an individual level (including genetics, medical history, and other testing) and the ability to track changes in this data over time and in response to treatments.

Widespread social distancing has made data collection for precision medicine research substantially more challenging, as patients are unable to safely visit research sites.

Sano has developed a platform for at-home precision medicine research, including at-home sample collection and a software platform for longitudinal data collection. We have developed and validated the platform, and are seeking funding to collect samples and DNA test 1,000 people to better understand COVID19 infection, and the role that genetics plays in severity. This platform will enable researchers in drug discovery, vaccine development, and biomarker development to quickly quickly map, stratify and draw conclusions from big data sets collected via at-home genetic testing, self-reported longitudinal data, and links to existing medical records.

Beyond research into COVID19, this funding will additionally accelerate platform development to enable fully remote research and trial participation in other complex diseases where at-home precision medicine research is urgently needed.