Lisa Edelmann, PhD, Chief Diagnostics Officer, Sema4, and Eric Schadt, PhD.
Eric Schadt, PhD, a pioneer in big data and systems biology and Founding Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, recently launched Sema4, a new venture at the Mount Sinai Health System that is looking to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and offer sophisticated genetic testing to doctors and patients across the country.
Operating as an independent, for-profit company based in Stamford, Connecticut, Sema4 (pronounced semaphore) will continue to collaborate closely with Mount Sinai. The company is combining comprehensive genetic screening, diagnostic testing, predictive modeling, and open access data to create innovative tools that enable patients and their physicians to make more informed decisions about patient health.
The first spin-off of its kind at Mount Sinai, Sema4 has a staff of more than 350, including many scientists, doctors, engineers, clinicians, and genetic counselors from the Icahn Institute and the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences. Mount Sinai’s significant investment in Sema4 reflects its commitment to genetic research, diagnostics, and next-generation treatments.
Sema4 will build upon Mount Sinai’s success in genetic testing under the leadership of Lisa Edelmann, PhD, the long-time Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory in New York City, who now serves as Sema4’s Chief Diagnostics Officer, and Todd Arnold, PhD, Chief Laboratory Operations Officer.
“By creating Sema4, we can bring this tremendous expertise to a national audience and use what we learn from the broader population to help us deliver better care to our Mount Sinai patients,” says Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System.
“The creation of this company represents a major investment in genomics and in the clinical sphere, which will allow Sema4 to grow as a commercial entity and bring to market more sophisticated tests for patients at Mount Sinai and around the country,” says Dr. Edelmann.
With the launch, Sema4 began offering the high-quality genetic testing developed through years of research and patient interaction at Mount Sinai. This includes Expanded Carrier Screen (formerly NextStep), which tests for 281 genetic diseases by using six different technologies to provide more accurate and meaningful results for patients.
As part of its national expansion, Sema4 recently launched CarrierCheck™, the only carrier test that screens for 67 inherited conditions and can be ordered online by consumers. CarrierCheck, a simple, saliva-based test, was developed in collaboration with Helix, a personal genomics company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sema4 also launched a new test that analyzes key cancer genes to help doctors personalize cancer therapy. In the future, Sema4 will offer new and enhanced, non-invasive prenatal and supplemental newborn screening tests.
The more data Sema4 collects through its tests, the more information it will have to develop better insights, computer models, and predictions that can be used to help transform the way diseases are diagnosed, treated, and prevented, says Dr. Schadt, Sema4’s Chief Executive Officer, who also serves as Dean for Precision Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics.
“We would like to create larger sets of data about patients that they and their doctors can analyze to make the best health care decisions,” Dr. Schadt says. “Our bet is that medicine will become much more of an information science, and providers who can master the information and base meaningful decisions on that data will be able to better serve their patients.”
Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System, says, “We look forward to collaborating closely with the Sema4 team and to rapidly deploying the tools they develop throughout the Mount Sinai Health System.”
For additional information about Sema4, please go to sema4genomics.com or call 800-298-6470.