Blog
November 15, 2017
Investigating splicing of transcripts in cancer cells: SMRT Grant winner announced
We’re pleased to announce the winner of this year’s ‘Open Your Eyes to Isoform Diversity’ SMRT Grant, which was launched during the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. The…
November 14, 2017
Fungal genome study sheds light on pathogenicity in plants
They are colonizers and killers, growing as large as 2,400 acres, leaving devastation in their wake. Armillaria fungi are the cause of root rot disease in forests, fields, parks, and vineyards…
November 7, 2017
Medicinal plants: Investigating biosynthesis with SMRT sequencing
Three recent publications report results from transcriptome studies of plants often used for medicinal purposes, all powered by SMRT Sequencing and the Iso-Seq method. The papers on ginseng, Huangqi, and…
November 6, 2017
Sanger celebrates 25 Years by generating 25 high-quality genomes of UK species
We’re pleased to be teaming up with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute on a project to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary: generating high-quality genome assemblies for 25 species that are integral…
November 2, 2017
With chromosome-scale resolution, draft durian genome explains smelly fruit
Scientists in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia recently reported the high-quality draft genome assembly of Durio zibethinus, a type of durian fruit commonly eaten in southeast Asia. The team used…
November 1, 2017
Iso-Seq analysis of polyploid cotton yields important discoveries for fiber breeding
Scientists at Huazhong Agricultural University in China and collaborating institutions recently published results of an Iso-Seq analysis of allotetraploid cotton. The team’s findings are expected to be particularly useful for…
October 20, 2017
ASHG 2017 Day 4: CRISPR/Cas9 Targeting and Structural Variant Calling CoLabs
A new program at ASHG this year came from the CoLaboratories, or educational theaters featuring 30-minute talks on a variety of clinical, laboratory, and data analysis topics. We were honored…
October 19, 2017
ASHG Day 2: Population and clinical genetics, plus a SMRT sequencing roadmap
The PacBio team hosted a luncheon workshop at ASHG yesterday titled “Population and Clinical Genetics Studies Using Long-read SMRT Sequencing.” Thanks to all the conference attendees who took time out…
October 18, 2017
ASHG 2017 Day 1: Structural variation, reference genomes, and more diversity
The annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics kicked off with a splash yesterday in Orlando, Fla. The PacBio team was thrilled that the opening talks in the…
October 12, 2017
HGSV Consortium study identifies sevenfold increase in structural variation
UPDATE (April 16, 2019): The paper has now been published in Nature Communications. ORIGINAL POST (October 12, 2017): The Human Genome Structural Variation Consortium, a successor to the 1000 Genomes…
October 10, 2017
Automated de novo assembly pipeline now available in Bluebee Cloud platform
Good news for cloud-loving PacBio users: genomics analysis service Bluebee has now implemented HGAP4 for de novo assembly of SMRT Sequencing data. It creates a fully automated, end-to-end assembly pipeline…
October 5, 2017
Sequel system boosts coverage, provides 40-fold cost reduction for amplicon sequencing
UPDATED March 27, 2018 This paper is now available at BMC Genomics. ORIGINAL POST October 5, 2017 A new preprint from scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada and the…
September 25, 2017
Raising Awareness for Ataxia & Progress Toward Understanding of the Disease Mechanism
Today is International Ataxia Awareness Day (IAAD), and we’re proud to be participating in this worthy cause. Ataxia is a group of rare, degenerative neurological diseases with a number of…
September 21, 2017
Data and Software Release: Target Capture and SMRT Sequencing for Alzheimer’s Disease Genes
We’re pleased to release a new data set along with an allele phasing GitHub software workflow for those interested in exploring SMRT Sequencing data from an Alzheimer’s disease candidate gene…
September 19, 2017
New Diploid Avian Reference Genomes to Establish Quality Standards for G10K, B10K
A new publication from scientists at The Rockefeller University and PacBio presents reference-grade, phased diploid genome assemblies for two important avian models for vocal learning, Anna’s hummingbird and zebra finch….