The world’s first complete chromosome sequence at #AGBT19

The full x-chromosome map

NGHRI’s Dr. Adam Phillippy presents a remarkable dataset – the telomere-to-telomere assembly of a complete human X chromosome When the completion of the Human Genome Project was announced on June 6, 2002, President Bill Clinton said the following: We are here to celebrate the completion of the first survey of the entire human genome. Without … Read more

What’s so special about single molecule sequencing?

Photo courtesy of {a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyz/”}kyz{/a} via Flickr Creative Commons.

A few days ago I reviewed in brief the history of Helicos Biosciences (HCLS), a company that held out the promise of single molecule sequencing, but failed to deliver on several fronts to the next-generation sequencing market. (This would include accuracy, throughput per dollar, and ease of use / reliability was yet another factor.)

But why is single molecule sequencing so attractive in the first place? What can it do that other technologies cannot?

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Some thoughts on Pacific Biosciences single-molecule sequencing

SMRTcell of a PacBio RS system courtesy of {a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/konradfoerstner/"}konradfoerstner<{/a}.

We’re living through a time this year of market transition. The Illumina HiSeq continues to have a strong market position (although the upcoming Ion Torrent Proton sets out to change that, however it won’t be available until this September / October). For the time being, customers with NGS platforms are considering upgrading (from the HiSeq 2000 to a ‘fast-mode’ 2500, or from a 5500 to a 5500 ‘Wildfire’ that will be launched later this year, decreasing the cost-per-base substantially and eliminating ePCR).

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Sequencing equipment provider Pacific Biosciences (PACB) and the rate of change

Pacific BioSciences RS Sequencer, from their {a href="http://www.pacificbiosciences.com/news_and_events/mediakit"}media kit{/a} page.

February 2008, Marco Island Florida – an exciting time in the world of NGS, the first pioneering papers were being published using short-read sequencing that are now every-day applications – ChIP, RNA-Seq, small RNA, the first whole genomes.
 

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