LifeMap Sciences, a subsidiary of BioTime, announced release of MalaCards, Version 1.06. The new release features improved gene-disease associations.

MalaCards is a database of human diseases and their annotations that is modeled on the architecture and richness of the popular GeneCards database of human genes.

The database consolidates disease data from 66 sources and in this version contains 19,663 disease entries, 11,808 of which include associated genes.

LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market GeneCards and MalaCards from Yeda Research and Development Company, the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

MalaCards 1.06 includes the following features and improvements, including improved algorithm for gene disease association and new pathogenic variation association, as well as new categories of Rare diseases, and Mental diseases.

Improved MalaCards categories by mapping to disease ontology, and using disease family information, searchable ICD10 categorization, improved related diseases and upgraded disease family association and deep links to pathcards in the pathway section.

GeneCards, the Human Gene Compendium has been updated to reflect the upgraded gene-disease associations.

"The new MalaCards version further accentuates this database’s role in providing users worldwide with a comprehensive bird’s eye view of human diseases and their gene connections," said Professor Doron Lancet, Ph.D., Head of the Crown Human Genome Center, at the Weizmann Institute of Science and principal investigator of MalaCards.