Sample to Sequence Workshop

Courtesy Photo | Applications of Next Generation Sequencing Technologies. Listed are some of the different applications possible on a single NGS sequencing machine which span across the central dogma of molecular biology (‘DNA makes RNA makes protein’) ... The application of NGS technology within academic laboratories has been rapid and has resulted in many new exciting discoveries.” Source: Mehta NAL, Dow DJ, Battram AM. 2011. DNA sequencing technologies and emerging applications in drug discovery. European Pharmaceutical Review website. https://www.europeanpharmaceuticalreview.com/article/10409/dna-sequencing-technologies-and-emergingapplications-in-drug-discovery/. Accessed May 4, 2020. Note: Colors used in the diagram are an adaptation of the original.  

FORT BELVOIR, VA, UNITED STATES

06.15.2020

Courtesy Story

Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

A living organism’s genome, the entirety of a living organism’s DNA (or RNA), is akin to a book. Just as all the words in a book must be read to obtain a thorough understanding of the manuscript’s meaning, so all the genes in a genome must be sequenced to acquire a full, physiological understanding of the organism. Genetic sequencing is the identification of the exact order in which a DNA’s chemical building blocks combine to form genes. The first genome sequenced was a virus, and this accomplishment begat a wildfire of research endeavors to sequence genomes of other organisms. Success in genome sequencing efforts led to improvements in sequencing technologies. The Sanger method, available since the 1970s, helped map the human genome, but it took about 13 years to do so. New technologies, referred to as next-generation sequencing (NGS), can do the same work within a day. NGS technologies enable a thorough understanding of how any biological threat agent behaves, but most molecular-based technologies fielded by the DoD utilize the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method that amplifies short sequences of an organism’s genome, which is analogous to identifying a couple of sentences in a book.

To better understand NGS technologies, the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense (DASD-CBD) requested an `Opportunities Assessment’ in February 2019. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Chemical and Biological Technologies Department (DTRA CB) responded to the request by planning and hosting a workshop, guided by a systems-engineering approach, to develop a concept that describes how warfighters might employ NGS technologies as capabilities to meet a future challenge. The workshop — titled Sample to Sequence and held from August 14 to 15, 2019 — contributed to the pre-acquisition analysis of NGS technologies. DTRA CB collaborated with representatives from the U.S. Army’s Maneuver Support Center of Excellence. Through facilitated discussions, the workshop enabled interactions between technology, operational, and acquisition stakeholders.

Participants vetted NGS technologies for their performance, strengths and weaknesses, ability to promote the success of a mission, and ability to fill a capability gap, i.e., the difference between what DoD currently utilizes versus what it needs. Workshop participants discussed attributes of the technologies most important to warfighters and other stakeholders in the military. Attributes are the mission-level and system-level performance and suitability characteristics necessary in a technology to become a capability for military use. Participants listened to three scenarios in which the technologies could be employed and then discussed and rated the importance of the technologies’ attributes, which were grouped into four categories: performance, training, logistics, and interface. Each scenario included the elements of DoD’s doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel, facilities, and policy spectrum. Workshop results were documented in a report provided to the DASD-CBD. The report is available for official use only and upon request.

NGS technologies are advancing quickly in the commercial market and are becoming cheaper and more user friendly than their predecessors. NGS technologies have the potential to advance DoD’s efforts to develop medical countermeasures that render biological threat agents ineffective. If DoD were to acquire NGS technologies, data from the Sample to Sequence workshop would inform acquisition efforts. NGS technologies could vastly improve DoD’s capacity to sequence a biological threat agent and learn areas to target in the pathogen’s DNA (or RNA) when developing medical countermeasures to keep warfighters safe and lethal on the battlefield.

POC: Alex Park, [e-mail]

• Date Taken: 06.15.2020
• Date Posted: 06.16.2020 11:42
• Story ID: 372217
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US