NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies today said that it has established a partnership with researchers aimed at evaluating the use of its Ion Torrent PGM for influenza virus typing.
Life Tech said that it has formed the Global Influenza Network, a partnership with scientists at public health organizations, veterinary agencies, and research institutes that will focus on using the PGM to increase the spped and accuracy of influenza monitoring and vaccine development. The members will share tools, experience, and data using the semiconductor sequencing system.
Among the partners announced today are Steve Glavas, head of the NGS Platform, and Mia Brytting, head of the microbial typing unit, at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control; Gabriele Vaccari, a researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome; Mary Lea Killian, a microbiologist at the US National Veterinary Service Laboratories in Ames, Iowa; and David Wentworth of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md.
"Using next generation sequencing technology makes whole influenza genome sequencing much easier, and much less expensive than older sequencing techniques, when used appropriately," Glavas said in a statement.
The partners intend to publish results of the study of the Ion Torrent system in a peer-reviewed research journal, said Life Tech.