Seven years after the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge soaked the world, the pace of discovery in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has increased tremendously, with more than $115 million dollars in donations funding research that has led to the identification of several genes implicated in both familial and sporadic cases of the neurodegenerative disease. While the social campaigns have generated much needed awareness around the disease, there are other challenges – one of which can be addressed with long-read sequencing. As detailed in a new, interactive case study, PacBio SMRT Sequencing is helping researchers at the University of Washington unravel…
It’s a challenge that has haunted rare disease researchers for years: how to increase solve rates in rare and Mendelian disease. Currently, the genetic cause of more than half of rare disease cases worldwide remain unexplained. In a series of talks and posters presented at the 2021 annual meeting of The European Society of Human Genetics (#ESHG21), PacBio experts and users described how HiFi sequencing could help close the gap by providing more comprehensive, accurate and high-definition coverage of the gaps in the human genome. Here is a summary of the discussions that took place and the posters that…
Rare diseases are defined as diseases that affect a small number of people – fewer than 1 in 2,000 in the European Union and fewer than 200,000 total people (about 1 in 1,500) in the United States. For example, Tay-Sachs disease affects 1 in 300,000 while Cystic Fibrosis is more common and affects 1 in 10,000. Though individual rare diseases affect very few people, collectively they are common and affect over 300 million people worldwide. Advances in Sequencing Technology for Improved Understanding of Rare Diseases With more than 70% of rare diseases being genetic in origin, scientists around the…
Today we’re pleased to announce the launch of a new HiFi Sequencing workflow along with a software update for the Sequel II and Sequel IIe Systems that will increase the number of HiFi reads at or above 99.9% accuracy (QV30) for whole genome sequencing-based applications. Together, these advances will improve the quality of HiFi Sequencing while providing an efficient and scalable workflow for sequencing hundreds to thousands of whole human genomes per year on Sequel Systems. This high-throughput sequencing and analysis workflow release includes a new HiFi library prep protocol offering a three-fold reduction in DNA input, enabling HiFi sequencing with limited sample quantities (neonatal…
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 way to go, concluded rare disease researchers at Centre de Recherche en Myologie at Sorbonne Université/INSERM Stéphanie Tomé (@TomeStephanie) and colleagues used the highly sensitive, comprehensive long-read sequencing to investigate myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), the most complex and variable trinucleotide repeat disorder, caused by an unstable CTG repeat expansion that can reach up to 4,000 triplets in those affected most severely with the disease. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1)…
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 about supporting this community and providing tools that help improve the ability of scientists and clinicians to deliver valuable answers to families and reduce what can be a years-long diagnostic odyssey. And while each ‘rare’ disease may affect a limited number of people, collectively these diseases affect hundreds of millions of people around the world. Since we last celebrated this special day, we’ve been particularly excited by the progress made…
A new review article nicely sums up the utility of long-read sequencing for solving rare diseases that cannot be explained by other methods. The paper, published in the Journal of Human Genetics, comes from authors Satomi Mitsuhashi and Naomichi Matsumoto at Yokohama City University in Japan. The scientists note that long-read sequencing serves as a good complementary approach for cases that are not solved with short-read sequencing alone. “The approximate current diagnostic rate is <50% using [short-read whole exome and genome sequencing], and there remain many rare genetic diseases with unknown cause,” Mitsuhashi and Matsumoto write. “There may be many…
Great news from the rare disease community: the European research program SOLVE-RD has chosen SMRT Sequencing technology to help reveal the genetic mechanisms responsible for these tough-to-diagnose genetic diseases. As part of this work, scientists will sequence more than 500 whole human genomes with the PacBio Sequel II System to pinpoint disease-causing variants. The SOLVE-RD research program, a consortium of more than 20 institutions funded with a five-year, €15 million award from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 initiative, aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases by applying novel tools to cases that were not solved with short-read…
The last day of February each year is designated as Rare Disease Day, a unique opportunity to recognize people who sometimes seem to be forgotten by the mainstream medical community. Once again PacBio is an official sponsor of the day, which will be marked with awareness-raising events in 80 countries around the world. It’s a beautiful way to remember the hundreds of millions of people affected by a rare disease, as well as the caretakers, researchers, and clinicians who work so hard to make their lives better. The thing about rare diseases is that, while each individual disease might affect…
The SOLVE-RD research program, a collaboration of 21 participant organizations in 10 nations, announced it has received a €15 million grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 initiative. SOLVE-RD aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases, which in total affect millions of Europeans. The program is applying novel diagnostic tools to around 19,000 cases unsolved by prior short-read exome sequencing. Prominent among the planned “multi-omics” approach is long-read genome sequencing, which will reveal the large amount of potentially disease-causing genetic variation that is not accessible with short-read DNA sequencing. SOLVE-RD plans to apply long-read genome sequencing to 500…
Today we are celebrating Rare Disease Day with like-minded folks all over the world. The tribute kicked off in 2008 and has gathered so much momentum that people in more than 80 countries are expected to participate in 2016. Each disease is rare — affecting fewer than 1 in 1,500 people — but because there are so many of these diseases, together they affect millions of people globally. Here at PacBio, many of our team members have their own stories about dealing with rare disease, and we imagine the same is true of our blog readers. We’re so proud that…