Translation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) into molecular diagnostics

In the past 5 years, next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been established as a valuable tool for several research applications. Commercially available platforms from Helicos, Illumina, Life Technologies, Pacific Biosciencies, and Roche allow for massively parallel sequencing and analysis in the fields of genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics. As in most projects, data throughput of the sequencers is not the limiting factor; genomic DNA samples are directly prepared for sequencing without prior conditioning. However, there are some applications such as targeted resequencing that do not require sequencing of whole genomes. Therefore, a technology called target enrichment was established more than 2 years ago. Different PCR- or hybridization-based approaches were further commercially developed and refined. The combination of this method with NGS can improve analysis of disease-related gene sets in molecular diagnostics by reducing time and costs. By taking advantage of the enormous data output, several genes and patients can be analyzed in parallel in one single instrument run.