THE HEALTHY NEVADA PROJECT
From recruitment
to real-world impact
Renown Institute for Health Innovation partnered with Helix to help carry out a large-scale genetic screening and research initiative.
Get startedThe challenge
Rapidly scaling a genomic research initiative with results that can be integrated into clinical care for a large population in Nevada.
As part of the expansion of the Healthy Nevada Project (HNP), Renown Health Institute for Health Innovation (Renown IHI) sought to engage 40,000 Nevadans in a large scale genomics research initiative that would drive novel discoveries as well as improve clinical care.
This meant that, in addition to needing participant friendly engagement tools, they needed next-generation sequencing technology that could produce clinical-grade data at scale. Historically, this would have required coordinating with multiple partners.



About Renown IHI
More detailsAbout Renown IHI
About the Healthy Nevada Project
More detailsAbout the Healthy Nevada Project
Helix services used
More detailsHelix services used
- One of the world’s largest CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited next-generation sequencing labs
- Exome+®: a panel-grade medical exome enhanced by more than 300,000 informative non-coding regions
- Co-branded ancestry + traits DNA product for all participants
- Secure storage of genomic data for the lifetime of the participant
- Infrastructure and data to facilitate research
- In-house clinical and scientific expertise
The solution
Combining Renown IHI’s expertise in healthcare and research with Helix’s end-to-end population health solution.
Renown IHI worked closely with Helix to customize its end-to-end population health solution. Helix's participant-facing engagement tools, in-house clinical and scientific expertise, clinical-grade Exome+® assay, and next-generation sequencing lab (one of the world's largest) provided this project with powerful tools that helped it become one of the fastest growing population sequencing initiatives in the United States.

More than an exome
Each participant’s DNA was sequenced using the Exome+® assay—far surpassing the amount of data collected in other comparable initiatives—enabling Renown IHI to deliver actionable insights to their patients and to be a leading innovator in precision health. Additionally, the Exome+ assay covers the entire exome plus more than 300,000 informative non-coding regions that are available to help participants (and their physicians) continue learning from their DNA over time.

Helix's end-to-end solution is powering one of the fastest growing population genomics initiatives in the United States

CLIA/CAP
next-generation
sequencing lab

Proprietary
Exome+ assay

Participant-facing
engagement tools

Sequence once,
query often model
The results
In less than one year, Renown IHI has assembled one of the largest genomic and health data sets in the world and changed the standard of care in their community.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE
10,000
Sign-ups in the first four days
>20,000
People recruited, sequenced, and given results in less than 6 months
250,000
Participants targeted in expansion plan
MEASURABLE CLINICAL IMPACT

1 in 75
received actionable medical results across 3 conditions:

Familial hypercholesterolemia

Lynch Syndrome

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome

90%
would have been missed under current medical practice

22%
had already developed indications of disease
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Growing new relationships
With our ancestry and traits insights, the Helix platform helps you differentiate your organization in a competitive healthcare marketplace with an engaging, human-centric approach to population health. By tapping into participant curiosity and leveraging our flexible and economical model, you can form new relationships that last and raise the general health of the communities you serve.

40%
had their first healthcare encounter within 6 months of signing up
Participants new to Renown Health
RESEARCH ADVANCEMENT
The partnership continues
Renown IHI & Helix have published research demonstrating how a broad population preventative genetic screening approach may improve outcomes and how the Exome+ can power novel discovery [1,2]. Collaboration between Helix and Renown IHI continues as they work together to re-engage participants and carry out ground-breaking research.

97%
of participants opted-in for future research
Healthy Nevada Project Participants
Get in touch
To learn more about implementing a population genomics program, complete this form and we’ll be in touch soon.
If you have questions about your COVID-19 test result, please email support@helix.com
References
-
Grzymski JJ, et al. Population genetic screening efficiently identifies carriers of autosomal dominant diseases. Nature Medicine.
July. 27, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0982-5.
-
Cirulli E.T. Genome-wide rare variant analysis for thousands of phenotypes in over 70,000 exomes from two cohorts.
Nature Communications. Jan. 28, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14288-y