Bioinformatics blogs →

I was surprised to see this blog featured in a recent list of the Top 75 Bioinformatics Blogs and Websites for Bioinformaticians.

Any list that includes this blog — which I barely ever update these days — feels a little bit dubious, especially when I'm listed above some genuinely useful blogs.

Anyway, there are many genuinely useful blogs on this list so I recommend having a look at it. I also made an attempt a few years at listing some of my own favourite bioinformatics blogs…a list which seems to remain relevant.

Illumina's new NovaSeq platform unveiled at The Institute of Cancer Research, London →

Dr Nik Matthews, Genomics Manager in the ICR's Tumour Profiling Unit. Credit: ICR

Dr Nik Matthews, Genomics Manager in the ICR's Tumour Profiling Unit. Credit: ICR

It feels a bit strange to be using this blog to link to a news post at my current employer, but I'm happy to share the news that the ICR has become the first organisation in the UK to deploy Illumina's NovaSeq platform.

The ICR's Dr Chris Lord, Deputy Director of the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre, had this to say:

One key area we are keen to use the NovaSeq sequencer for is to discover new ways to select the best available treatment for each individual cancer patient’s specific disease.

If we can do this, we should be able to improve how a significant number of patients are treated. With the NovaSeq system, this kind of work is now feasible – this will be a real game-changer for a lot of the work across the ICR.

Read more in the full news article on the ICR website:

Chromosome-Scale Scaffolds And The State of Genome Assembly →

Keith Robison has written another fantastic post on his Omics! Omics! blog which is a great read for two reasons.

First he looks at the issues regarding chromosome-size scaffolds that can now be produced with Hi-C sequencing approches. He then goes on to provide a brilliant overview of what the latest sequencing and mapping technologies mean for the field of genome assembly:

For high quality de novo genomes, the technology options appear to be converging for the moment on five basic technologies which can be mixed-and-matched.

  • Hi-C (in vitro or in vivo)
  • Rapid Physical Maps (BioNano Genomics)
  • Linked Reads (10X, iGenomX)
  • Oxford Nanopore
  • Pacific Biosciences
  • vanilla Illumina paired end

This second section should be required reading for anyone interested in genome assembly, particularly if you've been away for the field for a while.

Read the post: Chromosome-Scale Scaffolds And The State of Genome Assembly

What did I learn at the Festival of Genomics conference? →

Last week I attended the excellent Festival of Genomics conference in London, organised by Front Line Genomics. This was the first time I had been to a conference as a communications person rather than as a scientist…something that felt quite strange.

In addition to live-tweeting many talks for The Institute of Cancer Research where I work, I also recorded some videos of ICR scientists on the conference floor. All were asked to respond to the same simple question: Why is genomics important for cancer research?. You can see the video responses on the ICR's YouTube channel.

I also made a very short video to highlight one unusual aspect of the conference…the talks were pretty much silent. Wireless headphones worn by all audience members meant that there was no need to amplify the speakers…and therefore no need for the four different 'lecture theatres' to actually have any walls!

 

My first ICR blog post!

My final task was to write a blog post about some aspect of the conference. Before the conference started, I thought I might write something that was more focused on genomics technologies. However, I was surprised by how much of the conference covered genomics as part of healthcare.

In particular, I was left with the sense that genomics is finally delivering on some of the promises made back in 2003 when the human genome sequence was published. One of the target areas that was mentioned in this 2003 NIH press release was 'New methods for the early detection of disease'.

This is something that is now possible with whole genome sequencing being deployed as part of the 100,000 genomes project (undertaken by Genomics England). The ability to screen a patient for all known genetic diseases leads to many concerns and challenges — you should see Gattaca if you haven't already done so — but it was heartening to see how much groundwork has been put in to stay on top of some of these issues.

This is my first proper blog post for the ICR, and if you are interested in finding out more, please read my post on the ICR's Science Talk blog: