Sequence Assembly for High-Throughput Technologies

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

The State University of New York at Stony Brook is awarded a grant to improve sequence assembly for high-throughput sequencing technologies. Significantly cheaper de novo sequencing technologies must be developed to fully understand the diversity of life. Although the technologies currently being developed focus on the easier problem of resequencing to study genomic variation, the investigators are convinced that coupling them with significant advances in computational sequence assembly has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of de novo sequencing as well. They propose to build assembly programs for sequencing technologies slated to become commercially available over the next one to three years. Certain technologies achieve their cost efficiency by producing massive numbers of very short reads cheaply, while others provide extremely long reads (albeit with high error rates). The intellectual merit of the proposed research lies in the application of mathematical analysis, algorithm design, and software implementation to the assembly problem for these new sequencing technologies. Broader impacts of the proposed research include the significant biotechnical, economic, and scientific advances which result from reducing the costs of de novo genome sequencing, and educational opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and interdisciplinary students.