Blog
July 20, 2017
‘A Quiet Revolution’: SMRT Sequencing Powers Increasing Genome Assembly Quality
A news article in Science magazine nicely captures the improvements in the quality of genome assemblies made possible by long-read sequencing and other methods. “New technologies boost genome quality” was…
July 19, 2017
New Assembly for Complex Bread Wheat Genome: 10 Times Higher Contiguity
UPDATE: This preprint is now published! Check it out in the November 2017 issue of GigaScience. In a new bioRxiv preprint, scientists from Johns Hopkins present a major step forward…
July 18, 2017
Novogene to Build Database of Structural Variants in 1,000 Chinese Genomes Using SMRT Sequencing
In an effort to improve precision medicine in Chinese populations, Novogene announced plans to build a database of structural variants in 1,000 Chinese individuals using PacBio SMRT Sequencing. Databases which…
July 11, 2017
Population Genomics Study Shows Faster Evolution in Domesticated Yeast
In a Nature Genetics paper, scientists used SMRT Sequencing to detect and compare structural variations in several yeast strains in order to understand evolutionary genome dynamics. They found different rates…
July 6, 2017
For High-Quality Ant Genomes, Scientific Alliance Chooses SMRT Sequencing
The Global Ant Genomics Alliance (GAGA) recently announced that it has adopted SMRT Sequencing as its technology of choice for generating high-quality genome assemblies. The alliance, made up of more…
June 29, 2017
Study Used Iso-Seq Method to Unravel Activity of Receptors in Prostate Cancer
A new publication in Clinical Cancer Research from scientists at the Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota, and other institutions presents results from a study to evaluate androgen receptor (AR) isoforms…
June 27, 2017
Iso-Seq Data Supports Annotation Efforts for Key Crops Wheat and Barley
Two recent papers underscore the importance of using PacBio full-length RNA sequencing to interrogate transcriptomes for major crops. Together, these publications offer compelling evidence that information considered essential for crop…
June 22, 2017
Stanford Scientists Report First Use of PacBio Whole Genome Sequencing to Identify a Disease-Causing Mutation
An article published today in Genetics in Medicine from Jason Merker, Euan Ashley, and colleagues at Stanford University reports the first successful application of PacBio whole genome sequencing to identify a…
June 19, 2017
At SMRT Leiden, Improvements in Characterizing Genomes, Transcriptomes, and Methylomes
Last month, we co-hosted the 2nd annual SMRT Leiden conference with Leiden University Medical Center. SMRT Leiden featured three days of excellent presentations, including one day focused on bioinformatics. If…
June 13, 2017
New Maize Reference Genome Will Support Crop Improvement Programs
A large group of scientists published a new reference genome assembly for maize. It was generated with SMRT Sequencing and other technologies, and represents a major leap forward in accurately…
June 12, 2017
Scientists Use SMRT Sequencing to Reveal Unexpected Adhesin Repertoire in Candida
In a preprint available from bioRxiv, scientists from the University of Lausanne and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics present the first SMRT Sequencing results from isolates of the fungal pathogen Candida…
June 8, 2017
Widespread Methylation in Earliest Fungi Offers Clue to Expression of Essential Genes
The Joint Genome Institute recently announced results from a project that used SMRT Sequencing to generate high-quality genome assemblies and detect epigenetic modifications for fungal species that represent the earliest…
June 6, 2017
At CROPS 2017, SMRT Sequencing Powers Reference Plant Genome Assemblies
This week the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the University of Georgia are co-hosting CROPS 2017, a meeting focused on genomic technologies and their use in crop improvement and breeding…
June 2, 2017
In Texas, New View of Klebsiella Strain Diversity and Antibiotic Resistance
A sweeping new report on Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence data from scientists at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, and other institutions found more diversity than expected in strains…
May 30, 2017
At ASM Microbe 2017, SMRT Sequencing Advances Microbial Applications
We can’t wait for ASM Microbe! It’s one of the largest microbiology conferences in the world and is taking place June 1-5 in New Orleans. With more than 10,000 people…