ECBC Scientist Speaks About Next Generation Sequencing Technologies

Did you know that U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) experts frequently speak at international conferences? Scientist Lauren McNew of ECBC’s BioChemistry Branch spoke to an audience of 400 attendees at the 12th annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) Conference, held in Florida in February.

McNew spoke about next generation sequencing technologies for rapid response to bio threat events and included information about operational exercises being conducted in the ECBC Genomics Center to respond to potential biological threats.

The AGBT meeting has become the most complete scientific forum for acquiring information about the latest advances in DNA sequencing technologies and their myriad applications. Attendees represent both national and international organizations from the fields of cancer genomics, metagenomics, genomic and personalized medicine, population and evolutionary genomics, and societal implications of genomics research, as well as cutting-edge bioinformatics technologies. 

"The AGBT meeting is the most visible international genomic sequencing meeting,” said McNew. “The inclusion of ECBC and its applications for next generation sequencing has allowed us to bring forth the capability of the center to those who would not otherwise be aware of our work. This year, there was a marked increase in presentations for biosurveillance and biodefense applications. I believe this trend will continue going forward creating a niche for ECBC and other government agencies to fill given our ability to perform genomics ‘behind the fence’ for microbial forensics."