Metagenomics

Project Summary

Pathogen genomics is transforming clinical medicine, showing considerable promise in improving healthcare through infection control and public health measures such as outbreak investigation and surveillance.  These measures, however, rely upon isolation and selection of individual organisms prior to sequencing. Metagenomic sequencing of clinical samples – sequencing all genetic material (including both host and pathogen) in the sample – has the potential to be the holy grail of diagnostic microbiology, by facilitating diagnosis and genome analysis directly from specimens within a single test and without the need for pathogen isolation in vitro. The broad aims of this project are to (i) develop a customised methodology and workflow for metagenomic sequencing of clinical samples and (ii) assess the impact of metagenomics in clinical practice.

Project Partners

Department of Infectious Diseases, Austin Health

Publications

Genome reconstruction and characterisation of extensively drug-resistant bacterial pathogens through direct metagenomic sequencing of human faeces

[size=2]Mu A, Kwong JC, Isles NS, Goncalves da Silva A, Schultz MB, Ballard SA, Carter GP, Williamson DA, Seemann T, Stinear TP, Howden BP. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/153874[/size]