Bina Technologies Blog VarDict: A Somatic Variant Caller Available in the Bina RAVE Software

Details on Vardict, a new variant caller, have been published recently in Nucleic Acids Research by authors, Zhongwu Lai and Jonathan Dry, among others from AstraZeneca [1]. The current version of the Bina Read Alignment Variant Calling and Expression software module for secondary analysis includes Vardict, along with five other tools, for calling SNVs or indels from tumor-normal pairs. As the article demonstrates, VarDict has multiple strengths that extend our capabilities in variant calling beyond what was available before its release. Notably, the algorithm is particularly good at detecting indels. It also handles ultra-deep sequenced samples, which have become more common of late, and supports variant calling in tumor-only samples (in addition to tumor-vs-normal calling).