Shariant

Variants are changes in a patient’s genetic code identified by a genomic test that may help diagnose or treat their condition. Decoding the significance of a variant is a complex process involving comparisons with existing data to determine what is already known about a variant. This relies on the safe and secure information sharing.

Shariant, an Australian Genomics-led initiative, is a system for real-time national sharing of this vital data between Australian diagnostic laboratories. The rapid exchange of this key information allows genomic experts to decode the human genome with greater accuracy.

Importantly, it supports a process to automatically identify and resolve discrepancies in variant interpretation.

Shariant also facilitates the sharing of variant interpretations internationally, boosting global collaboration.

As of June 2025, Shariant has more than 39,000 prospective variant interpretations from 16 clinical genetic testing laboratories across five states. Shariant has also enabled over 11,000 submissions from laboratories to the international database, ClinVar, driving a 3000% increase in Australia’s international knowledge sharing.

This project enables variant interpretation sharing across all Australian clinical genetic testing laboratories and facilitates the standardisation of variant classification nationally.

For more information about Shariant and to access this tool, visit tools & resources.