UK cancer researchers hail “game-changing” gene machine

Described by its US manufacturer Illumina as the most powerful sequencer it has launched, the NovaSeq 6000 is expected to dramatically increase the amount of sequencing that scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) can carry out and help them to more quickly read the genetic code within tumours.

This kind of information can then be used in the development of diagnostic tests or to help find new ways to target the tumour’s weaknesses with drugs.

By increasing the ICR’s ability to do this kind of genome sequencing in-house, it should also reduce costs for the organisation, freeing funds to be ploughed into further research to defeat cancer.

According to the ICR, next-generation sequencing has revolutionised genomics and molecular biology research, allowing researchers to sequence multiple DNA or RNA samples at the same time, and making it much quicker and cheaper than the older Sanger sequencing techniques. The new machine will enable researchers to get the genetic sequence of up to 96 whole genomes or 256 exomes, three times as many as is possible with existing technologies.