A New Era of Genetic Testing and Its Impact on Research and Clinical Care

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has been moving at an arguably unprecedented pace compared with any other molecular genetics technology to have previously hit the scene. In both the clinical and research settings, this technology demonstrates great appeal because of its tremendous potential to affect medicine via its capacity to more thoroughly interrogate the genome at a fraction of the cost of previous technologies. Two recent articles in the journal Nature highlight the new and changing face of clinical testing and human genetics research. The first, a News in Focus article, discusses the fast-moving pace of NGS technology and some of the benefits and challenges to providing this testing clinically (1). In the second, a commentary article, the author points out the many possibilities for error in human genetics research, and proposes that these testing processes be moved into clinical laboratories (2). A tie-in between these 2 articles is the broad application of NGS to benefit both research participants and clinical patients.Most current …