Genomic and RNA sample preparation for second-generation sequencing.
The introduction of second-generation sequencers has revolutionized a wide array of biomedical fields allowing researchers to pursue previously unimaginable studies. For example, it is now possible to sequence the human genome or to perform a detailed analysis of the transcriptome in just a matter of days.
As the sequencing instruments become progressively more automated requiring less hands-on time, a larger fraction of the laboratory time is devoted to upstream sample preparation, defined as the conversion of the DNA or RNA of interest into a sequence-able library. Indeed, sample preparation, alongside downstream bioinformatics data analysis, represent the current “bottlenecks” in the sequencing pipeline.
In this presentation, I will describe the major steps of sample preparation, as well as the current trends and cutting-edge work in how to improve it.
