Vishal Lamba is an accomplished scientist who has spent the last several years researching pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine. In 2003, after years of researching how to determine the sequence of the chemical base pairs that make up DNA, the Human Genome Project was able to identify and map all of the genes in the human genome. Upon the completion of the project, scientist began looking for ways to allow them to complete the sequencing more rapidly and much cheaper. This need led to the establishment of NextGen Sequencing (NGS), platforms that enabled millions of DNA fragments to be simultaneously sequenced. This allows scientist to sequence an entire genome in a single day.
NextGen sequencing can be applied in numerous ways, resulting in the ability to facilitate rapid technological advances across multiple fields of biological science. Scientist is currently re-sequencing the human genome to be able to detect genetic factors that contribute to some diseases. This is significant because it will allow doctors to customize their patient’s treatments. NGS is also being used to study public health and epidemiology. The NGS technologies allow scientist to sequence viruses and bacteria to help them detect factors that may add to the virulence.
As the technologies continue to grow and become more commonly used, more innovative applications are likely to be developed. Vishal Lamba has spent his career studying genetics and the role they play in disease.
