Increased Analysis Expertise at Fios

2020 has heralded a huge increase in headcount for Fios Genomics, with 15 new starts across the company by October. Coronavirus has meant that for the vast majority, virtual inductions and e-meeting the rest of the team has been the standard course of action. 

Working remotely has been the norm for many for much of 2020, and as a whole company we have kept our constant communication open, using Slack to keep in touch and regular meetings within and between teams. We have yet to find a way to replicate our ‘water-cooler’ (perhaps more aptly, coffee machine) conversations virtually. However, we are looking forward to our new office space, which will be ready in early 2021. 

The new-starts in our Operations team come from both academic and commercial backgrounds, continuing to expand our diverse experience and knowledge bases. Incoming research areas of focus include macular degeneration and central nervous system disorders including Alzheimer’s and dementia. Additionally, we have also increased our attention on environmental applications with a focus on plant ‘omics analysis to answer evolutionary or crop improvement questions.  

Across data types, we have increased our expertise in various RNA data analysis areas, such as microRNA and RNA-seq, single-cell RNAseq data (as can be seen in our recent single-cell whitepaper) as well as epigenetics. We have also been involved in increasing numbers of proteomics projects, expanding our range of expertise in proteomics data analysis.  

Working at Fios Genomics

Having a dedicated in-house project management team is a big change for those used to academic environments, helping to keep our projects on target for scope and timeline. Additionally, having scientific editors at Fios ensures that all finalised reports are reviewed for scientific accuracy prior to being sent to clients. 

As an external bioinformatics company, we work on a huge variety of projects, from the area of research to the type of data. Our work can have direct impact on areas such as drug development, and the breadth of projects allows for the personal development of our analysts in bioinformatics abilities and analysis capabilities.  

Many of the new team members are already working on commercial projects having completed the onboarding process to become familiar with our code base and ways of working. Their first projects have varied from analysing Atlantic salmon microarray data, to assessing single-cell RNAseq data to developing targeted cell therapies for blood cancer. The breadth of projects and data types brought to Fios by our clients gives variation to our analysts’ days, and highlights new technologies and therapies that have the potential to have a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Find out more about our work

Interested in finding out more about how Fios can help your research? Our Services page contains more information on the areas we work in, the types of data we often analyse, and how we can add value to your research.