Multi-Omics: The next step in comprehensive genomic analysis

For 20 years, scientists have gathered data on genetic polymorphisms. How are advances in next-generation sequencing and multi-omics technologies shedding light on their role in disease?

Researchers are improving risk prediction for common chronic diseases using genetic data. These ‘polygenic risk scores’ can help personalize preventive measures and could soon become part of routine healthcare practice, once some limitations are overcome.

Methods that allow researchers to simultaneously sequence RNA and detect extracellular proteins in individual cells reveal new cell types and states associated with disease.

Sequencing biological samples from people with a specific disease or who belong to a particular ethnic group is improving understanding of how genetic variants influence common diseases,aiding prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The need to predict and monitor patients’ response to immune checkpoint inhibitors will make next-generation sequencing indispensable for identifying the tell-tale signs.

Next-generation sequencing technologies are helping researchers to find mutations unique to an individual’s cancer as well as the genetic signatures that predict their immune response. Can they use these clues to develop long-lasting and effective anticancer vaccines?

Tumours might seem to be discrete entities, but each one is a roiling collection of cells. Instead of looking at the tumour as a whole, individual analysis of its many different cells is providing insight into cancer progression and the mechanisms underlying treatment resistance.

Researchers are using every piece of molecular data available to characterize tumours, identify therapeutic targets, and make precision medicine more precise.

Illumina has developed two workflows to enable detection of coronaviruses from clinical samples, aiding diagnosis, surveillance and treatment development efforts.

Sequencing technologies are enabling a deeper analysis of the gut’s microbiome. Researchers can now explore what our microbial inhabitants are doing and how they contribute to, or protect from, disease.

Research in cancer epigenetics is advancing rapidly. Here’s an overview of the tools and methods scientists use to drive progress in the field.

As part of the effort to better understand complex traits and diseases, researchers are finding that combining different omics readouts, taken simultaneously, offers advantages over conducting separate analyses.

Using next-generation sequencing tools, scientists are exploring how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the immune system to better understand the disease, identify those at higher risk, and minimize its impact.

By bringing together the worlds of histology and sequencing, spatial genomic analysis allows researchers to study the tumour microenvironment in situ and understand the influence of immune cells on cancer progression.

Next-generation sequencing is helping to steer the global response to SARS-CoV-2, and will help the world to prepare for future pandemics.