Human Genome Sequencing Center

Baylor College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Center has been testing Life Technologies' Ion Torrent Proton platform extensively, completing more than 360 runs so far and comparing it with Illumina's technology for exome sequencing.

NCI Director John Niederhuber said last week that the institute plans to expand the Cancer Genome Atlas project to 20 to 25 major tumor types, and to apply next-generation sequencing to at least 100 tumor samples for each of several types of childhood cancers under the TARGET initiative.

Speakers at the Future of Genomic Medicine conference tempered their enthusiasm about the field by highlighting a number of obstacles standing in the way of making whole-genome studies a standard part of medical care.