JAMMU: Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu has successfully started molecular genetic testing on cutting-edge Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. Dr Sandeep Dogra, Professor & HoD Microbiology, informed that the Department was provided NGS equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic for the sequencing of SARS-COV2 virus. He said since COVID-19 is over, the spare testing capacity of this high-end equipment was explored to be used for other diseases. One priority area identified was preventive oncology where the role of NGS has been well established world over, he added. “NGS technology, also known as massively parallel sequencing, is highly advanced technology that allows billions of DNA bases to be read at the same time without having to know their sequence in advance. Running the NGS test involves DNA fragmentation, library preparation, massive parallel sequencing followed by bioinformatics analysis,” Dr Dogra said. He stated that from a clinical perspective, the technology can be used for molecular diagnosis of genetic diseases, infectious diseases, prenatal diagnosis, carrier detection, medical genetics, cancer molecular diagnosis and prognosis. The HoD Microbiology said to begin with, Breast cancer patients were first screened with NGS for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. “These mutations predispose individuals, or their relatives, to breast cancer. Having a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, by the age of 70, to between 65-85% for BRCA1 mutations and between 40-85% for BRCA2. Positive BRCA1 or BRCA2 results allow women to make a choice well in advance about available options that could potentially reduce their risk of developing breast cancer,” he added. Dr Dogra shared that with this critical capacity building, the Department is now fully prepared to use this technology in any future epidemic requiring genome sequencing. He said in consultation with the clinicians more parameters like Human Papilloma virus, lung cancer, colorectal cancer and antimicrobial drug resistance genome sequencing will be added in a phased manner. He said with this achievement, GMC Jammu has become first ever Government institution in J&K to start NGS testing in the health care sector.
