Jan 30, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Cheaper, faster, and more accurate rapid gene sequencing technologies show great promise in identifying infectious disease agents
In clinical laboratories across the nation, microbiology has greatly benefited from the introduction of molecular diagnostics in clinical practice. Now the field of microbiology is poised to undergo a more profound transformation of clinical practice, due to advances in whole genome sequencing.
Leaders in this field are calling these developments “transformative” and say they have the potential to change “all aspects of microbiology.” The driver to this emerging trend is advanced technology that makes it possible to sequence the whole gene sequence of an organism in a day or less, for a cost that is $1,000 and falling rapidly.
In the past six months, microbiologists and pathologists at such hospitals as Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, have begun to do whole genome sequencing of microbes found in specimens collected from patients arriving in the emergency room. The New York Times wrote about these developments in a story titled “The New Generation of Microbe Hunters,” that it published on August 29, 2011.
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Jan 3, 2011 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
High-Density Sequencing Chips Will Soon Be Able To Sequence Five Million SNPs
Rapid gene sequencing is catching the interest of progressive anatomic pathologists. These medical laboratory professionals are interested in using rapid gene sequencing technology to allow them to study tens and hundreds of genes on a patient specimen.
The technologies used in rapid gene sequencing are being developed and improved by a handful of biotech companies who are racing each other be first to deliver systems to the marketplace that can sequence whole human genomes at a cost of $1,000 or less. Some innovative medical laboratories are beginning to acquire these sequencing systems and explore how they might be used for clinical pathology laboratory testing. (more…)
Nov 26, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
1000 Genome Project publishes database of 800 whole human genome sequences
More than 800 whole human genomes were sequenced and the data was recently made available in a public database by the 1000 Genomes Project. This development is a reminder to medical laboratories and pathologists that clinical use of whole human genome sequences is fast approaching.
It is possible for clinical laboratory managers to access an article in the journal Nature that describes the work of the 1000 Genomes Project during this four-year pilot phase. The article is available on the Nature website as a PDF download.
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