Franklin Prime's Hard Panels allows you to define a precise, non-revertible subset of genes or genomic regions for your analysis. This capability is essential for ensuring strict compliance with your organization's privacy policies regarding incidental findings.
By applying a Hard Panel during case creation, the platform performs variant calling and annotation only on the selected genes, completely disregarding all other regions. This is a critical distinction from Soft Panels, as a Hard Panel cannot be removed or altered later in the analysis workflow.
1. Creating a Case Using Hard Panels via the User Interface (UI)
Follow these instructional steps to initiate a new case and apply a Hard Panel:
Verify Panel Availability: Ensure that the specific list of genes you intend to analyze is configured as a Virtual Panel (AKA Soft Panel) within your organization's Knowledge Base.
Start a New Case: Navigate to My Cases → New Case → Inherited Disease Single Case.
Define Hard Panels: In the designated Hard Panels section, select the required panels and genes you wish to include in the analysis.
Define Soft (Virtual) Panels (Optional): In the Soft Panels section, you may select additional panels for variant filtering later in the workflow. Soft Panels can be unselected or removed at any time. For more information of on virtual panels, please visit the following Help Center article
Finalize Case Creation: Upload/Select your sample files, add all necessary patient metadata, and press Next.
⚠️ Irreversible Action: Panel Selection Cannot Be Changed After Analysis Begins
Applying a Hard Panel is a non-revertible action. Once the case is created, the analysis is permanently restricted to variants from the genes specified in the Hard Panel. The gene list cannot be expanded later in the analysis process; if you need to include additional genes, you must rerun the case from the beginning.
2. Creating a Case Using Hard Panels via Sample Sheet
To implement Hard Panels when importing cases in bulk using a sample sheet:
In germline cases: use the Germline Sample Sheet template and populate the dedicated "hard panels" column with the required panel name(s). Refer to the corresponding Help Center article for detailed sample sheet usage instructions.
In somatic cases: use the Somatic Sample Sheet template and populate the dedicated "hard panels" column with the required panel name(s). Refer to the corresponding Help Center article for detailed sample sheet usage instructions.