Use of Diagnostic Metagenomics in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based assays have recently entered the realm of the clinical microbiology laboratory's capacity, providing exciting potential for improvement in infectious disease detection and identification. There are many diagnostic applications of NGS, such as targeted or amplic...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Clinical Laboratory Science Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 78 - 85
Autor principal: MITCHELL, STEPHANIE L.
Formato: pictorial review tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Spring2019
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based assays have recently entered the realm of the clinical microbiology laboratory's capacity, providing exciting potential for improvement in infectious disease detection and identification. There are many diagnostic applications of NGS, such as targeted or amplicon NGS and metagenomic NGS (mNGS). mNGS has received the most attention for diagnostics because of its unbiased nature and "hypothesis-free" testing approach. Although mNGS may have improved pathogen detection compared with conventional culture-based testing and has shown clinical utility in some specific cases, the application of this technology is still investigational, and many barriers and limitations remain to be overcome. This review will cover both the advantages and limitations of mNGS and address the need for and incorporation of new technologist skillsets in the clinical microbiology laboratory to successfully implement mNGS diagnostics.