Blog
April 22, 2021
Conservation is For Life, Not Just For Earth Day
By Jonas Korlach, Chief Scientific Officer Grapy dusks over tangerine fields. Potato-patch fog over beds of coral. Mountains, glaciers, forests, deserts, fertile farmland and seas with both Arctic…
April 21, 2021
SMRT Sequencing Detects Clinically Significant Repeat Changes In Triplet Expansion Disorders
When size matters and you need to be able to detect both single nucleotide changes as well as large repeated sequences, SMRT Sequencing on the Sequel II System is the…
April 8, 2021
PacBio Sequencing Uncovers Large Deletions in RSV Vaccine Candidate Under Selective Pressure
Vaccine safety is of the utmost importance. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of severe lower respiratory tract illness in infants and young children. Much like the…
April 6, 2021
SMRT Grant Winners – Collaboration Reaches New Heights in Global Science Challenge
Today we’re pleased to announce the three winners of our latest SMRT Grant which called for teams of researchers and collaborative projects that could be addressed using the power of…
March 4, 2021
Transcriptome Provides A Closer Look Into Giant Redwood Genome
It’s been a year since we took a little field trip to Stanford to collect samples from the giant California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) with the goal of assembling its ginormous…
March 3, 2021
For pandemic surveillance, Labcorp scientists sequence thousands of SARS-CoV-2 samples with HiFi reads
As new strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerge—including variants that appear to make the virus more contagious or potentially more likely to effect the efficacy of the new vaccines—it’s clear…
February 26, 2021
Using the Power of Genomics to Find Answers for Rare Disease Patients and Families
Sunday is Rare Disease Day – a time to honor the patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals who are part of the rare disease community. At PacBio, we are passionate…
February 12, 2021
LeafGo: A Workflow That Enables High-Quality Seven-Day Plant Genome Assembly
UPDATE — September 3, 2021: This paper is now published in Genome Biology. ORIGINAL POST What does the ideal genome assembly look like? High-quality, free of errors, with no…
February 3, 2021
Genomes vs. genNNNes: the difference between contigs and scaffolds in genome assemblies
Updated on February 24, 2023. Originally published September, 2016. In recent interactions with the scientific community, we’ve seen a growing number of questions around scaffolding genome assemblies. We thought…
January 28, 2021
New Macaque Genome Provides a Big Boost for Biomedical Research
They may not be as well known as our chimpanzee or gorilla cousins, but macaques have played many key roles in scientific progress over the last half century. From launching…
January 21, 2021
PacBio-Powered Analysis Indicates Methylation Makes TB Pathogen So Wily
Scientists have long struggled to explain the success of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the face of effective therapeutics. Tuberculosis (TB) kills more than 1 million people annually, and has a remarkable ability…
January 15, 2021
PacBio and Invitae Team Up to Develop Ultra-High-Throughput Clinical Whole Genome Sequencing Platform
The power of PacBio HiFi reads has enabled transformative research into human disease. A new collaboration with Invitae, a leader in medical genetics, is intended to help harness the technology…
January 11, 2021
Copy Cats: Improved Cat Genomes Highlight Remarkable Similarities Within the Feline Family
Felix, Garfield, Leo the Lion — despite their differences, the genomes of these frisky felines are highly conserved across the family, even among its most divergent members. A new set…
December 31, 2020
The Most Wonderful Webinars of the Year
The year the world went virtual is virtually over, so what better time to reflect on all the great online offerings featuring SMRT Sequencing this year. While we would have…
December 29, 2020
A Glimpse into the Gut: HiFi Sequencing Enables Strain-Level Study of Intestinal and Breastmilk Microbiota in Celiac Disease
Celiac disease happens in the gut, but scientists still don’t fully understand the complex interplay between host genetics and the environmental factors that lead to the development of the autoimmune…