Since 2012, the core members of the Wuhan Dgensee team have been committed to the application development and product transformation of third-generation sequencing technology, original focus on PacBio sequencing, and then making Wuhan Dgensee the first company in China to explore and transform the clinical application of ONT products in 2018. Based on the ONT sequencing platform, we have carried out the testing and validation of whole genomics, metagenomics, capture sequencing genomics, targeted amplification genomics, and other sequencing methodologies and applications. Currently, in the field of ONT sequencing of pathogenic infections, the company has compared and analysed a variety of methodologies for clinical diagnosis of infections caused by potential pathogens in parallel. Combining this with the existing technology and data characteristics of nanopore sequencing technology as well as the expected future technological innovation, it has conducted an in-depth evaluation from the perspectives of accuracy, sensitivity, and clinical applicability and has finally launched a suitable clinical pathogen diagnostic protocol with nanopore sequencing, which named as nanopore targeted sequencing (NTS). The advantages of the protocol are provided below.

Figure 1. Turnaround time for the NTS protocol

 

Speed is one of the most critical factors in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Currently, NTS is already able to achieve 12–24 h turnaround time from receiving samples to issuing reports in clinical practice (Figure 1), which is expected to be reduced to 12–16 h, achieving same-day issuance of test reports.