Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is the primary technology used to identify genomic targets for vaccine development, detect emerging viral strains and monitor transmission patterns. Enhanced options for NGS on Illumina systems from the Invitrogen Collibri portfolio of library prep technology now make it possible to identify multiple potentially pathogenic strains of a disease and understand the rate of evolution quickly, with improved precision. The most current application of NGS technology is to rapidly map differences in gene expression profiles to research variance in immune response among infected individuals.

Learning Objectives:

1. Considerations to choose between RNA-seq and whole-genome sequencing when studying RNA viruses

2. Criteria to choose among three RNA sequencing methods

3. Tools to improve the quality of viral sequencing data