Wide Spectrum Viral And Target Gene Enrichment

Viruses represent a major problem to public health. Many factors contribute to the emergence of infectious diseases. For example, ecological or environmental changes including agricultural changes, climate changes and urbanization increase contact between humans and infected wild animals; technology development such as transfusion, organ transplant, and immunosuppressive drugs facilitate the migration of viruses from one host to another; international air travel favors the introduction and dissemination of viruses to new areas; human behavior such as hypodermic injection of drugs with contaminated syringes and unsafe sex spread viruses to new populations. Thus, rapid detection and identification of an etiological agent during infectious disease outbreaks is crucial for effective disease management including identifying the source, tracking transmission routes, and assessing the effect of containment polices.
We have designed a new method for capturing a large number of relevant viruses and sequencing them with NextGen sequencing platforms. A similar approach could also be used for whole genome gene screening and sequencing of disease-relevant genes.