You are here

Metagenomics pathogen detection tool could change how infectious diseases are diagnosed

Primary tabs

Infectious diseases are one of the biggest killers in the world. Almost 5 million children under age 5 die each year from infectious diseases worldwide, yet many infections are treatable if the pathogen culprit can be quickly and accurately identified.

"In the realm of infectious diseases, this type of technology could be as significant as sequencing the human genome," says co-author Mark Yandell, PhD, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah (U of U), H.A. & Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair holder, co-director of the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery, and co-founder of IDbyDNA. "Very few people have inherited genetic disease. But at some point, everyone gets sick from infections."

It is difficult for infectious pathogens to hide when their genetic material is laid bare. Taxonomer opens up an entirely new approach for infectious disease diagnosis, driven by sophisticated genomic analysis and computational technologies. After a patient's sample is sequenced, the data are uploaded via the internet to Taxonomer. In less than one minute, the tool displays a thumbnail inventory of all pathogens in the sample, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. The interactive, real-time user interface of Taxonomer is powered by the IOBIO system developed by the laboratory of Gabor Marth, DSc, professor of human genetics at the U of U and co-Director of the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery.

publish - 26 May, 2016 Source: University of Utah Health Sciences

see more at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160526141739.htm

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Meeting / Event Tags: 
Groups this Group Post belongs to: 
- Private group -

Comments

Supporting documentation for the article above is provided within the links below . . .

University of Utah - Metagenomics Pathogen Detection Tool Could Change How Infectious Diseases Are Diagnosed
http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2016/05/Taxonomer.php

Genome Biology - Taxonomer: an interactive metagenomics analysis portal for universal pathogen detection and host mRNA expression profiling
http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-016-0969-1

Journal of Clinical Microbiology - Unbiased Detection of Respiratory Viruses by Use of RNA Sequencing-Based Metagenomics: a Systematic Comparison to a Commercial PCR Panel
http://jcm.asm.org/content/54/4/1000.long

howdy folks