How variant surveillance could drive a sequencing boom 

The push to keep up with COVID-19 variants could be the inflection point that turns genomic sequencing from a sophisticated technique into a widely accessible tool, with companies in the driver’s seat focused on automation. 

The global marshaling of next-generation sequencing (NGS) infrastructure to monitor mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome is the latest example of how the pandemic is reshaping the diagnostics industry by blurring the boundaries between individual diagnostics and public health research, and widening the scope of where testing happens...