PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mitchell, Stephanie L
TI  - Use of Diagnostic Metagenomics in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.2019001768
DP  - 2019 Apr 01
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
PG  - 78--84
VI  - 32
IP  - 2
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/32/2/78.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/32/2/78.full
SO  - Clin Lab Sci2019 Apr 01; 32
AB  - Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based assays have recently entered the realm of the clinical microbiology laboratory’s capacity, providing exciting potential for improvement in infectious disease detection and identification. There are many diagnostic applications of NGS, such as targeted or amplicon NGS and metagenomic NGS (mNGS). mNGS has received the most attention for diagnostics because of its unbiased nature and “hypothesis-free” testing approach. Although mNGS may have improved pathogen detection compared with conventional culture-based testing and has shown clinical utility in some specific cases, the application of this technology is still investigational, and many barriers and limitations remain to be overcome. This review will cover both the advantages and limitations of mNGS and address the need for and incorporation of new technologist skillsets in the clinical microbiology laboratory to successfully implement mNGS diagnostics.