Blog
This blog features voices from PacBio — and our partners and colleagues — discussing the latest research, publications, and updates about HiFi sequencing.
Blog
Deep Dives into DNA of Marine Biology
“Live every week like it’s Shark Week,” 30 Rock character Tracy Jordan once quipped to Kenneth the Page, referencing the week-long, dorsal-finned programming phenomenon that has become the Discovery Channel…
SMRT Science, Tips & Tricks Presented at Leiden Meeting
When was the last time you sent your DNA off to a day at the spa? Olga Pettersson of the SciLifeLab at Uppsala University lets her molecules relax for up…
Long Look Into Ant Brains Provides Epigenetic Insights
To understand the epigenetic regulation of brain function and behavior, scientists are turning to ants. To understand the ants, they are applying the accurate, long reads of SMRT Sequencing. While…
Egyptian Rousette Bat Genome Provides Clues to Antiviral Mystery
When humans are infected with the Marburg virus, the result is often lethal, with hemorrhagic fever and other symptoms similar to Ebola. When bats are infected, the result is…. nothing….
Maize Collaborators Embark on Ambitious 26-line Pangenome Project
The first reference genome for maize variety B73, completed in 2009, was a major milestone, and an improved version released by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientists in 2017 provided a…
One Million Genomes Meeting Discusses Progress and Promise of Population-Scale Genomics
The PacBio team was honored to attend an excellent Keystone Symposium in Hannover, Germany recently. The event, “One Million Genomes: From Discovery to Health,” offered a rare look at…
Plant and Animal SMRT Grant Will Enable Insight Into Sightless Fish
When German diver Joachim Kreiselmaier reached the deepest parts of the Danube-Aach cave system, he couldn’t believe his eyes: a “strange fish,” with a pale body coloration and smaller eyes…
It’s a Small World After All at ASM Microbe 2018
When it comes to bacteria, resistance is not always futile, or so we learned at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. One of our favorite events of…
For Reference-Grade Human Genome Assemblies, SMRT Sequencing Yields Optimal Results
SMRT Sequencing is a go-to technology for generating reference-grade human genome assemblies, according to speakers in a recent webinar. In their presentations, Tina Graves-Lindsay from Washington University and Adam Ameur from…
5 Ways to Attract More Customers to Your Sequencing Services
Many people who run a sequencing core lab would prefer to focus on science instead of business, but all core lab managers know that it’s imperative to keep a steady…
New High-Resolution Genome Assemblies Expand Our Understanding of Human-Ape Differences
Ever since researchers sequenced the chimpanzee genome in 2005, they have known that humans share the vast majority of our DNA sequence with chimps, making them our closest living relatives….
New Resource for Microbiologists: Collection of 3,000 Bacteria Genomes Released
The genomes of 3,000 strains of bacteria, including some of the deadliest in the world, are now available to researchers as part of an ambitious project by the UK’s National…
Full-length HIV sequences reveal distinction between viruses in brain, other tissue
Scientists have made important inroads in understanding why patients with HIV develop neurological disorders despite treatments that otherwise hold the virus at bay. The project was made possible with SMRT…
Disease-Causing LINE-1 Insertions: Rare or Just Hard to Spot?
LINE-1 (long interspersed nuclear element) insertions cover almost 17% of the human genome, but they are notoriously difficult to resolve accurately with short-read sequencing technology, according to scientists in Portugal….
Codfish Study Employs Target Capture and SMRT Sequencing to Explore Evolution
Many investigators rely on targeted sequencing approaches for deep dives into genomic regions of interest. By designing specific probes — often using short-read sequences directed towards the exome and supported…