Case Study: Boston University Medical Center advances early pulmonary disease biomarker discovery with Illumina RNA-Seq and HiSeq 2000

RNA-Seq Studies Identify Biomarkers for Early Detection of Pulmonary Diseases

The customer, Boston University Medical Center, faced the challenge of using genomic technologies with a narrow dynamic range, which limited their ability to measure low-abundant genes and detect splicing events for the early detection of pulmonary diseases. This limitation hindered the discovery of novel biomarkers and insights into disease pathogenesis.

The vendor, Illumina, provided a solution with its HiSeq 2000 system and RNA-Seq technology. This enabled a comprehensive, unbiased view of the transcriptome with higher throughput and an increased dynamic range. As a result, Dr. Spira's lab identified new transcriptomic alterations and biomarkers that were previously undetectable, empowering new biological studies and projects that were not previously feasible.

Boston University Medical Center

Avrum Spira

Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician