Meet The Microbiologist - The Scientists Behind The Microbiology

Jennifer Gardy talks about whole-genome sequencing as a technique to address public health issues using genomic epidemiology. She talks about her research on TB and new DNA sequencing technologies, including her vision for microbial genetic sequencing as one piece of the puzzle in the future of public health. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Whole-genome sequencing technologies are replacing older DNA technologies to identify relatedness between microbial isolates. The genome sequences help to identify epidemiological questions such as the origins of an outbreak. A pathogen’s genome being passed person-to-person accrues small changes, similar to children playing telephone - except those children are scattered around the room, and you have to logically deduce the order in which the information was passed. DNA sequencing has moved forward faster than the upstream genomic preparation and downstream sequence analysis areas; Gardy expects advances in these ‘bookend’ areas to be breakthroughs of the future. The Ebola and