Here's an update from the conference. As always, AGBT lives up to its reputation. Wednesday evening's festivities were spot on with a personal highlight of being on board the Ion Torrent bus. Designed to be a rolling lab, it is a unique way to highlight the PGM, from form factor to actually doing a run on an instrument on the bus while the bus was parked on the beach...

Talks so far that have stood out for me have been Heidi Rehm's talk on Supporting Large Scale Sequencing in a Clinical Environment. She has developed a very cool tool called "GeneInsight" which they are attempting to integrate into a patient's electronic health  record (EHR). Also, Darrell Dinwiddie gave an interesting talk on building a NGS clinical lab within Children's Mercy Hospital and using NGS as a more cost-effective model for molecular testing of 600 severe childhood diseases.

I've also gotten my first peak at the new Proton instrument from Life Technologies. There is a working prototype here at the meeting. While I have not seen any data, I can say that the form factor is as good as advertised. I'll learn more at their seminar this evening. Be sure to check back for the skinny. I've also spent time with the good folks at Raindance to learn about the progress they have been making. Looking promising!

The poster session was packed, which was a great sign given the fabulous weather and temptation to head to the beach.

That's all for now. Another update to follow.

Dean