» Plenary Keynote Session
8:30 Chairperson's Opening Remarks
Richard Resnick, CEO, GenomeQuest
8:40 The Catalog of Human Microbial Reference Genomes: Are We (Almost) There Yet? Sarah K. Highlander, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of MedicineA key resource for the NIH RoadMap Human Microbiome Project (HMP), and for metagenomics projects in general, is a representative "catalog" of annotated microbial genome sequences to serve as a reference for classification and functional annotation of a microbiome. The "JumpStart" phase of the HMP set a goal of creating a collection of 200 sequenced genomes from cultured microbes that represent various human body sites. The RFA, entitled "Construction of a Reference Sequence Data Set for the Human Microbiome Project", solicited an additional 400 microbial sequences, including those from uncultured microbes, eukaryotes and reference viruses. Shortly after the HMP began, the target was reset to 900. Advancements in sequencing technologies and methods to capture uncultured organisms have now raised the number to 3000. Cooperative international projects are also adding to the data set. Current HMP metrics and analyses will be presented and perspectives on future reference genome sequencing goals and requirements will be discussed.
 9:20 In the Wake of the Flood
 Toby Bloom, Ph.D., Director, Informatics, Genome Sequencing Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
With storage issues largely under control, we are now seeing the second phase challenges associated with the scale-up of massively-parallel sequencing. How do we handle the computational load, the network overload, and the challenges of managing the sequencing of hundreds or even thousands of samples concurrently? This talk explores new strategies and new technologies for the next phase of next-gen informatics.
10:00 Networking Coffee Break
10:30 What Does Clinical Grade Whole Genome Sequencing Mean?
 Isaac Kohane, Ph.D., Director, Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Harvard Medical School
Co-Sponsored by
 11:10 Genomics in Clinical Trials: Has the Time Come?Genomics applied to clinical trials has long promised immense rewards. The advanced stratification of patients into responders, non-responders, and adverse responders could fundamentally lower the overall cost of trials and accelerate time-to-market for target groups. Now with plummeting costs of next-generation sequencing, increasingly affordable data storage solutions, a proliferation of analysis and inference tools that bridge the research and clinical settings, and a growing volume of validated biomarkers, has the time come to realize those rewards?
Moderator:
 Kevin Davies, Ph.D., Author, The $1,000 Genome & Editor-in-Chief, Bio-IT World
Panelists:
 Iya Khalil, Ph.D., Senior Vice President & Co-founder, GNS Healthcare
 Richard Resnick, CEO, GenomeQuest
 Bradley L. Smith, Ph.D., Vice President, Translational Medicine, Quintiles
Toby Bloom, Ph.D., Director, Informatics, Genome Sequencing Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Questions for the Panel
* Can these methods really lead to benefits such as streamlined recruitment, improved decision-making during trials, and lower overall costs for trials?
* What can be done to accelerate adoption and success?
* What types of trials are the best candidates for these methods?
* What success stories can you share?
* Who is/should be leading the charge: pharma or their CROs?
* At what sequencing price point will genomics become mainstream in clinical trials?
12:15 pm Close of Morning Session
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