{"303081":{"#nid":"303081","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Genomic Sequencing Hits the Fast Lane","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENew sequencing machine in Vannberg lab speeds up the pace of research and analysis.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003EIt took a global community of scientists more than 10 years and almost $3 billion to sequence the first complete human genome. That was in 2003. Today, Georgia Institute of Technology scientist Fred Vannberg can do it in a day, at a microscopic fraction of the cost, thanks to a new piece of equipment in his lab, and his own expertise in genetic statistics. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re plowing away and helping whomever needs sequencing right now,\u201d says Vannberg, indicating the HiSeq 2500 System, a next-generation sequencing machine that is helping to revolutionize genomic research. \u201cThe idea is to give researchers direct access to this kind of technology. So, instead of waiting six to seven weeks for a single set of experiments, we can have it done within a week. Or, if they have samples ready, we can load it and have the data the next day.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESlated to become part of the vast and growing Core Facilities at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, the HiSeq 2500 (made by Illumina) already is getting a workout from researchers and institutions across the spectrum, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and John McDonald, professor in the School of Biology and director of the Integrated Cancer Research Center. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMcDonald says the combination of the high-throughput sequencer with Vannberg at the helm is a win-win for Georgia Tech and the wider research community. Vannberg, assistant professor in the School of Biology, joined Georgia Tech in 2011, following a stint as director of the sequencing program at the Dana Farber Cancer Center at Harvard. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe are fortunate to not only have a state of the art sequencing platform at Georgia Tech but to have a skilled and experienced individual such as Fred to oversee the facility,\u201d says McDonald. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThere are plenty of companies offering sequencing services, McDonald says, but typicallly the turnaround time, \u201cis simply too long for most research applications, so having our own in-house facility, where the turnaround time is a few days, is absolutely essential for most research applications.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMcDonald\u2019s research team is using the HiSeq 2500 to develop (in collaboration with Vannberg and King Jordan (associate professor in the School of Biology, and director of the Bioinformatics Graduate Program) algorithms to predict optimal personalized drug therapies, based on the genomic profiles of individual patient tumors. \u201cRapid genomic profiling \u2013 DNA and RNA sequencing \u2013 of patient samples is critical to this program,\u201d McDonald adds. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech got its new machine through the largesse of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), who funded the $803,000 sequencer. It\u2019s part of an ongoing effort to bring world-class research talent and capacity to the state, says GRA senior vice president Susan Shows, who heads up the alliance\u2019s investment portfolio, which includes the award-winning Eminent Scholars Program and more than $600 million of strategic research infrastructure at Georgia\u0027s six leading research universities. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cGRA can make a huge difference in helping to outfit labs, which allows our universities to be more competitive,\u201d Shows says. \u201cA tool like this sequencer is something that no one faculty member can use full time, so we\u2019re trying to help universities create these core facilities so that everyone gets their money\u2019s worth. And this sequencer may open the door to grants that researchers haven\u2019t been able to go after before.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EVannberg\u2019s lab is already operating kind of like a core facility, attracting a broad cross-section of research disciplines. For example, on this day, Vannberg is reading DNA from a child patient, \u201ctrying to understand the ecology of what\u2019s going on in the lung.\u201d The night before, it was a tumor sample from a patient with ovarian cancer. Vannberg and his research team also are developing software to analyze the resulting data, which is really huge \u2013 350 million sequence reads from DNA in that child\u2019s lung, for instance. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMeanwhile, the details that will result in the HiSeq 2500 becoming part of core facilities are still being finalized, according Steve Woodard, manager of the Petit Institute core facilities. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s definitely being used as a shared resource from a variety of people in different disciplines,\u201d says Woodard, who is genuinely thrilled by the research potential of the HiSeq 2500. \u201cIt brings us closer to understanding why one person gets a disease and another person does not. So, it\u2019s helping to facilitate the dawn of individualized medicine.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New sequencing machine in Vannberg lab speeds up the pace of research and analysis"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew sequencing machine in Vannberg lab speeds up the pace of research and analysis.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New sequencing machine in Vannberg lab speeds up the pace of research and analysis."}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-06-13 12:22:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:33","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"302161":{"id":"302161","type":"image","title":"Fred Vannberg","body":null,"created":"1449244592","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:56:32","changed":"1493147592","gmt_changed":"2017-04-25 19:13:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"199575","name":"vannbergfred2014.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":981984,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/vannbergfred2014_0.jpg?itok=gFSf3Cop"}},"302171":{"id":"302171","type":"image","title":"Shweta Biliya and Fred Vannberg","body":null,"created":"1449244592","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:56:32","changed":"1493085727","gmt_changed":"2017-04-25 02:02:07","alt":"","file":{"fid":"199576","name":"vannbergfredwithbiliyashweta.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfredwithbiliyashweta_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vannbergfredwithbiliyashweta_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":601959,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/vannbergfredwithbiliyashweta_0.jpg?itok=rw_hyHM8"}}},"media_ids":["302161","302171"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/vannberg.biology.gatech.edu:8080\/VannbergLab\/home.html","title":"Vannberg lab website"},{"url":"http:\/\/icrc.gatech.edu\/","title":"Integrated Cancer Research Center website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}