Dr. Cao Anh Tuan spoke at the seminar “Connecting and promoting the resources of Vietnamese intellectuals and expatriates to support innovation start-ups” on July 16, 2021 – Photo: Ministry of Science and Technology
Witnessing the rapid development of gene decoding technology in healthcare in the US, Dr. Cao Anh Tuan – a Vietnamese businessman in the US – fosters a business in this field focusing on genome decoding. of Asians, especially Vietnamese.
HOperating in Vietnam since 2018, but 4 years of development of an enterprise applying artificial intelligence (AI) in the development of genetic decoding technology like Genetica Company has been a long way.
In March 2021, Genetica received $2.5 million from a pre-Series A funding round after gaining more than 10,000 users in the first 12 months of launching the product.
Asian genotype compatible with COVID-19 vaccine
Observing the development journey of the gene decoding industry in the US from the limited stage to the expansion stage, from $4,000/time until it becomes a kit costing several tens of dollars, Dr. Cao Anh Tuan believes there will be a Asia and Vietnam also have a similar market.
However, in the very first days of his research, Mr. Tuan noticed that there were clear differences in the genomes of Westerners and Asians. Therefore, regardless of the proliferation of this technology, its application with Asians, specifically Vietnamese, will not be able to give optimal results.
The Asian “gap” is where Genetica focuses its resources. The most prominent product is the gene decoding package “Understanding the G-Immunity system” – helping to answer three big questions related to the risk of respiratory diseases:
First, what is the risk of seasonal flu?
Second, what is the risk of contracting diseases caused by viruses of the same family as SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus family) and influenza A (H5N1, H1N1)?
Third, if you already have these diseases, what is the risk of serious complications?
With a big data background in the development of the G-Immunity gene decoding package, when the COVID-19 epidemic occurred, it is not surprising that within only 6 months, Genetica has added a risk prediction section related to SARS-CoV -2.
Sharing with Tuoi Tre about Genetica’s research projects, Mr. Tuan said that up to now the company has been researching issues related to the COVID-19 epidemic.
First of all, based on tens of thousands of Vietnamese people who have had genetic testing, Genetica’s machine learning system has calculated predictions that the risk of COVID-19 infection leading to complications of Acute Respiratory Distress (ARDS) is high. or low of a person.
At the same time, Genetica is working with the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases to find out: whether the Vietnamese genome contains any unique characteristics, but so far the rate of COVID-19 cases with complications. Mortality or mortality in Vietnam is among the lowest in the world.
And in the future, one of the projects that will be implemented is to evaluate the compatibility and optimal results between each genotype and COVID-19 vaccines.
One World – One Standard
In addition to the headquarters and the largest laboratory in San Francisco (USA), Genetica is expanding cooperation with qualified laboratories in Southeast Asia, the immediate plan is to focus on Singapore and Vietnam.
Genetica’s labs must meet CLIA and CAP certifications – the most stringent certifications in the US regarding genetic testing standards.
They also collaborated with two of the world’s leading gene sequencing organizations, Illumina and Thermo Fisher, to create a multi-gene decoding chip for Asians recognized by Illumina for more than 99.99% accuracy.
Speaking at the seminar “Connecting and promoting Vietnamese resources abroad”, Genetica leaders proudly affirm that their upcoming lab in Vietnam meets the first CLIA standard in the country and is one of the first in the country. Few labs meet this standard in Southeast Asia.
Currently, there are only two CLIA-qualified labs in Southeast Asia, located in Singapore and Malaysia respectively.
CLIA standards here are not only about machines, technology, and human resources, but also include strict principles on service provision conditions. Among them is the HIPAA security standard on privacy with customer data.
“The company’s slogan is that users of Genetica have the same experience wherever they are,” said Mr. Tuan. “We don’t want to have so-called ‘flexibles’ because we don’t want to create ‘back doors’ to circumvent or lower quality standards for whatever reason,” he added.
Genetica is now able to analyze the genetic code for Asians to assist in child rearing and education planning, to personalize nutrition and exercise plans as well as to prevent potential diseases, in There are 18 common cancers in Vietnam and Asia.
Mr. Cao Anh Tuan holds a PhD in computer science at Cornell University, co-founder and CEO of Genetica. He is in charge of the company’s proprietary machine learning technology.
Prior to founding Genetica, Mr. Tuan was a principal research scientist at Datometry Software Company (San Francisco, USA), building the industry’s first database virtualization platform that helped shape the grassroots landscape world data and data warehouse.
He also held a senior technical position at Google USA on Big Data and AI.
Vietnamese brand about gene decoding
Dr. Cao Anh Tuan always remembers the time in Singapore, when someone asked him “Why do we only see Vietnamese people going to Singapore for medical examination and treatment but not vice versa?”.
The opening of Genetica’s laboratory in Vietnam and the application of the “long-lasting rain” policy to convince customers of the quality equivalent to the US and Singapore are concrete steps for this company to build a Vietnamese brand in the future. its field.
“The quality of service is the same between labs, but if you send samples to a Vietnamese lab, it will save time and reduce costs by up to 30%,” said Mr. Tuan.
The desired goal of Genetica is that by 2022, about 50% of the genetic samples of East Asian customers will be processed in the largest CLIA standard laboratory in Southeast Asia in Vietnam. Genetica has been licensed to deploy services in 10 countries.
Awakening ‘green genes’
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