Next-Generation Sequencing and Its Potential Impact

The new generation of DNA sequencing devices surpass their predecessors’ outputs by many orders of magnitude, a quantitative increase with qualitative implications. Sequencing at this scale enables many advances in basic and medical research, ranging from identification of new medically relevant biological mechanisms to maturation of personalized therapies. Nevertheless, as the genomics era plainly demonstrated, massive amounts of DNA sequence information by itself cannot fully illuminate the mysteries of human physiology, including the problems that challenge predictive toxicologists.