Baylor College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Center has standardized its target-enrichment human disease research studies on Roche NimbleGen Sequence Capture Exome technology, Roche said this week.
Baylor plans to sequence more than 5,000 exomes in the next two years to identify genetic variants underlying multiple human diseases. The center will use NimbleGen's SeqCap EZ Exome and customized NimbleGen exome designs as its exome-capture technology of choice, according the firm.
NimbleGen first launched its Sequence Capture application at the end of 2008. The technology allows scientists to select targeted regions of the genome for high-throughput sequencing using the firm's capture arrays. Last year, the company launched SeqCap EZ Exome, an in-solution target-enrichment application.
Using the latter method, Baylor plans to investigate more than 15 diseases, including brain, liver, pancreatic, colon, ovarian and bladder cancers, heart disease, diabetes, autism, and other inherited diseases with the ultimate goal of better understanding causative mutations and their impact on these diseases.
The studies are being supported by multiple funds from the National Institutes of Health and other research consortia, Roche said. BCM-HGSC has also optimized its approach for high-throughput exome capture and sequencing with multiple next-generation sequencing platforms, the company said. Baylor has already captured and sequenced over 2,000 samples, with roughly 1,000 of these using exome sequencing, according to the firm.