Baylor College of Medicine received $3.5 million to expand its telehealth platform to improve genomic diagnostics and care for critically ill newborns in underserved neonatal intensive care units in West and South Texas. Photo by Tim Bish on Unsplash

Baylor College of Medicine received $3.5 million to help hospitals in Texas better care for and diagnose some of the state's most vulnerable patients.

The funds come from the National Human Genome Research Institute for the Making Genomics Accessible to Newborns in Texas, or MAGNET, program. They'll be used to adapt BCM's Consultagene telehealth platform to be used in underserved neonatal intensive care units in West and South Texas, according to a statement.

Families in this region of the state currently can travel up to 300 miles to reach the nearest in-state geneticist, according to MAGNET. The program aims to help close that gap through BCM's established remote consultation service. Investigators also plan to create educational videos in English and Spanish to educate providers and patient caregivers on genetic diagnoses.

“Only 20 years ago, less than 3 percent of genetic conditions in newborns could be molecularly diagnosed,” Dr. Brendan Lee, co-principal investigator and professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and Robert and Janice McNair Endowed Chair in Molecular and Human Genetics at BCM, says in a statement. “Today, with routine genomic tests at academic medical centers, more than one-third of these cases can be diagnosed with state-of-the-art approaches. Unfortunately, many babies born at smaller hospitals lack access to genetic evaluation and testing, remain undiagnosed and are unable to benefit from early personalized medical treatment.”

BCM has already used Consultagene to improve care for children with rare diseases at the Texas-Mexico border. In this latest program, BCM will develop a consortium of partners at underserved NICUs in the area. On-site providers will be trained on genomic medicine and creating personalized treatments for patients with genetic diseases. Baylor researchers will also study the program's impact from the perspectives of the patients, families, and providers.

“By studying how access to advanced genomics services affects critically ill newborns and those involved in their care, the MAGNET program seeks to develop best practices for implementing cost-effective, comprehensive genomic platforms like Consultagene in under-resourced settings. Understanding how best to implement programs like this can inform broader efforts to close gaps in healthcare access and equity,” Dr. Stacey Pereira, associate professor in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor and co-principal investigator, adds.

The MAGNET program is focused on finding ways to use low-cost whole genome and RNA sequencing technologies to better diagnose sick newborns in Level III and Level IV NICUs in Texas.

This fall, Baylor secured $50 million in donations to construct the Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower to house its School of Medicine and the School of Health Professions. It's set for completion next year.

Baylor Genetics has paired with Baylor’s department of molecular and human genetics to launch the Medical Genetics Multiomics Laboratory with a goal for the collaboration is to turn research into clinical diagnostics. Photo via Getty Images

This new Houston lab is translating genetics research into clinical diagnostics

DNA innovation

A new lab at Baylor College of Medicine is primed to do groundbreaking work in the field of genetics.

Baylor Genetics has paired with Baylor’s department of molecular and human genetics to launch the Medical Genetics Multiomics Laboratory (MGML). The goal for the collaboration is to turn research into clinical diagnostics.

MGML’s freshly launched first clinical test is Whole Transcriptomic RNA Sequencing (WT RNAseq). The new test builds upon the success of existing tests like whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) currently on offer from Baylor Genetics by focusing on additional variants that could be missed by the other tests.

Baylor Genetics is offering WT RNAseq to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) and its affiliated institutions. For more than a decade, the NIH-funded UDN has united clinical and research experts from across many fields and institutions to give answers to patients with rare genetic diseases. Since it became one of the first institutions to join the UDN in 2014, Baylor Genetics has been the UDN’s sequencing core, using WES, WGS and RNA sequencing to help diagnose patients. The additional offering of WT RNAseq could improve the diagnostic yield by as much as 17 percent.

“This agreement, and the MGML lab, bring to life our vision of innovation, allowing us to co-develop new tests, evaluate in terms of clinical utility, and offer commercially in either a research or clinical setting,” says Dr. Brendan Lee, professor, chair and Robert and Janice McNair Endowed Chair of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and scientific advisory and board of directors member at Baylor Genetics. “Baylor Genetics is turning around critical high-volume testing, but the challenge is also maintaining our innovative edge and our position as leaders in discovery and genomic health implementation. This agreement is a realization of the vision when Baylor Genetics was founded 10 years ago.”

The lab’s product offerings will continue to expand as it becomes commercially feasible to do so, and the new tests will be used both commercially and clinically.

Baylor Genetics combines the powers of Baylor College of Medicine, which has the NIH’s best-funded department of molecular and human genetics, and Japanese clinical diagnostic testing company H.U. Group Holdings.

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7 can't miss Houston business and innovation events for July

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Editor's note: While many Houstonians are flocking to vacation destinations, there are still plenty of opportunities to network and learn at tech and business events for those sticking close to home this month. From an inaugural biotech summit to the 12th edition of a local pitch showcase, here are the Houston business and innovation events you can't miss in July and how to register. Please note: this article might be updated to add more events.

July 10 - Out in Tech Mixer 

Out in Tech Houston provides an inclusive networking space for LGBTQ+ people and allies working in tech. Check out this relaxed, social-mixer event, hosted on the second Thursday of every month.

This event is Thursday, July 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Second Draught. Register here.

July 14 – Latinas in Tech Coworking Day 

Connect with fellow Latinas in the industry at Sesh Coworking. Network or work alongside peers, board members and community leaders in a shared office environment.

This event is Monday, July 14, from 9-11:30 a.m. at Sesh Coworking. Find more information here.

July 17 – UTMB Innovation VentureX Summit

Attend the inaugural UTMB Innovation VentureX Summit, where innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and investors will dive into the future of biotech. Expect panel discussions, fireside chats, a technology showcase and networking opportunities.

This event is Thursday, July 17, from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Find more information here.

July 17 – Open Project Night 

Collaborate on solutions for some of Houston’s most pressing issues at this month’s Open Project Night at Impact Hub Houston. Hear from guest speakers and listen to open mic pitches. July’s theme is Decent Work & Economic Growth.

This event is Thursday, July 17, from 5:30-7:30 p.m at Impact Hub Houston. Register here.

July 24 – NASA Tech Talks

Every fourth Thursday of the month, NASA experts, including longtime engineer Montgomery Goforth, present on technology development challenges NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the larger aerospace community are facing and how they can be leveraged by Houston’s innovation community. Stick around after for drinks and networking at Second Draught.

This event is Thursday, July 24, from 6-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

July 30 – Ion Bike Club

Join Bike Houston at the Ion for a 45-minute guided cruise through the Ion District and Midtown. Afterward, enjoy a complimentary beer and network with like-minded riders at Second Draught.

This event is Wednesday, July 30, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

July 31 – Bayou Startup Showcase

Hear pitches from startups and small businesses from Rice University’s OwlSpark and the University of Houston’s RED Labs accelerators at the 12th annual Bayou Startup Showcase. Read more about this year’s teams here.

This event is Thursday, July 31, from 3:30-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Houston researchers: Here's what it takes to spot a great new idea

houston voices

Having a “promotion focus” really does create a mental lens through which new ideas are more visible.

Key findings:

  • New ideas can be crucially important to businesses, driving innovation and preventing stagnation.
  • Recognizing those ideas, though, isn’t always easy.
  • Nurturing what is known as “promotion focus” can help managers spot fresh ideas.

Whenever the late surgeon Michael DeBakey opened a human chest, he drew on a lifetime of resources: the conviction that heart surgery could and should be vastly improved, the skill to venture beyond medicine’s known horizons and the vision to recognize new ideas in everyone around him, no matter how little formal training they had.

Appreciating new ideas is the heartbeat of business as well as medicine. But innovation is surprisingly hard to recognize. In a pioneering 2017 article, Rice Business Professor Jing Zhou and her colleagues published their findings on the first-ever study of the traits and environments that allow leaders to recognize new ideas.

Recent decades have produced a surge of research looking at how and when employees generate fresh ideas. But almost nothing has been written on another crucial part of workplace creativity: a leader’s ability to appreciate new thinking when she sees it.

Novelty, after all, is what drives company differentiation and competitiveness. Work that springs from new concepts sparks more investigation than work based on worn, already established thought. Companies invest millions to recruit and pay star creatives.

Yet not every leader can spot a fresh idea, and not every workplace brings out that kind of discernment. In four separate studies, Zhou and her coauthors examined exactly what it takes to see a glittering new idea wherever it appears. Their work sets the stage for an entirely new field of future research.

First, though, the team had to define their key terms. “Novelty recognition” is the ability to spot a new idea when someone else presents it. “Promotion focus,” previous research has shown, is a comfort level with new experiences that evokes feelings of adventure and excitement. “Prevention focus” is the opposite trait: the tendency to associate new ideas with danger, and respond to them with caution.

But does having “promotion focus” as opposed to “prevention focus” color the ability to see novelty? To find out, Zhou’s team came up with an ingenious test, artificially inducing these two perspectives through a series of exercises. First, they told 92 undergraduate participants that they would be asked to perform a set of unrelated tasks. Then the subjects guided a fictional mouse through two pencil and paper maze exercises.

While one exercise showed a piece of cheese awaiting the mouse at the end of the maze (the promise of a reward), the other maze depicted a menacing owl nearby (motivation to flee).

Once the participants had traced their way through the mazes with pencils, they were asked to rate the novelty of 33 pictures — nine drawings of space aliens and 24 unrelated images. The students who were prepped to feel an adventurous promotion focus by seeking a reward were much better at spotting the new or different details among these images than the students who’d been cued to have a prevention focus by fleeing a threat.

The conclusion: a promotion focus really does create a mental lens through which new ideas are more visible.

Zhou’s team followed this study with three additional studies, including one that surveyed 44 human resource managers from a variety of companies. For this study, independent coders rated the mission statements of each firm, assessing their cultures as “innovative” or “not innovative.” The HR managers then evaluated a set of written practices — three that had been in use for years, and three new ones that relied on recent technology. The managers from the innovative companies were much better at rating the new HR practices for novelty and creativity. To recognize novelty, in other words, both interior and external environments make a difference.

The implications of the research are groundbreaking. The first ever done on this subject, it opens up a completely new research field with profound questions. Can promotion focus be created? How much of this trait is genetic, and how much based on natural temperament, culture, environment and life experience? Should promotion focus be cultivated in education? If so, what would be the impact? After all, there are important uses for prevention focus, such as corporate security and compliance. Meanwhile, how can workplaces be organized to bring out the best in both kinds of focus?

Leaders eager to put Zhou’s findings to use right away, meanwhile, might look to the real-world model of Michael DeBakey. Practice viewing new ideas as adventures, seek workplaces that actively push innovation and, above all, cultivate the view that every coworker, high or low, is a potential source of glittering new ideas.

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This article originally appeared on Rice Business Wisdom.

Jing Zhou is the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management and Psychology in Organizational Behavior at the Jones Graduate School of Business of Rice University. Zhou, J., Wang, X., Song, J., & Wu, J. (2017). "Is it new? Personal and contextual influences on perceptions of novelty and creativity." Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(2): 180-202.