Dr. Jegar Pitchforth

Building a better HIV Drug Resistance Mutation Assay

 

Population Genetics Technologies (PGT) was founded by Nobel Prize winner Sydney Brenner based on his work developing massively parallel sequencing methods, now known as Next Generation Sequencing.

 

I joined the company at a time when the business focus was on the development of a Next Generation Sequencing assay for detection of HIV Drug Resistant Mutations in patients carrying the virus. The assay was able to detect mutations at a much lower population frequency than existing tests thanks to a proprietary technology called VeriTags.

 

In my role within the science team, I developed statistical models which formed the basis of a cloud based informatics pipeline that maximised the information gained through the VeriTag technology. Using a combination of Bayesian modelling and machine learning approaches, I helped maximise available information from sequencing runs, greatly compress data files and quantify the certainty around final results.

 

I was responsible for writing reports outlining the statistical foundations of scientific decisions as well as developing software packages to support scientific inquiry.

 

I was also responsible for overseeing the development of a software customer interface that provided sample management, SOPs and assay results in an intuitive and comprehensive way. This involved working with Tier2 Consulting, a third party software development company, to develop a design and implementation plan that met the requirements of FDA and European Union standards for medical diagnostic devices.

 

Unfortunately this position will ended in May 2015 due to investors moving operations to the United States.