Topic: high-throughput sequencing

Stephen Quake describes how circulating cell-free nucleic acids became a basis for non-invasive diagnostics. Combining genome knowledge with high-throughput sequencing made liquid biopsies useful in pregnancy, transplantation, infection and cancer. The lecture follows the development of blood-based tests that can replace some invasive tissue-sampling procedures.

Stephen Quake examines antibody repertoires as populations shaped by diversification and selection. Recombination, junctional changes and mutation create many potential antibodies, but their realised diversity and similarity between individuals remain important questions. High-throughput sequencing in humans and model organisms is used to study these patterns and evolutionary convergence.