Shots - Health Blog In-Depth Genome Analysis Moves Toward The
Hospital Bed Originally published on Fri October 5, 2012 5:47 pm
Whole genome sequencing has become an essential tool for
researchers. But slow speeds and high costs have helped keep the
technology from becoming a routine diagnostic test for doctors.
But that's starting to change. And results from two studies
published this week suggest that in-depth personalized genome
sequencing could be inching closer to clinical reality. Sick
babies in intensive care might be among the first to benefit
from clinical whole genome sequencing, says a recent study in
Science Translational Medicine. Researchers at Children's Mercy
Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., streamlined the sequencing and
analysis of an entire genome. The process once took several
months. They did it in a few days. Time is an important factor
in the NICU, says Stephen Kingsmore an author of the study and
director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at
Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinic