Analysis of genetic material is the key to research into a wide variety of diseases. Genomics and transcriptomics allow us to look into cell processes - they tell us which genes are active in which situations. And we can use them to analyse which genetic changes cause diseases or make us susceptible to them. In the mid-1990s, so-called DNA microarrays were developed for nucleic acid analysis as the first parallelized and genome-wide measurement method, and this technology is increasingly being replaced by modern high-throughput sequencing methods. Next generation and single molecule sequencing are the second and third generation for sequencing methods and are summarized as "NGS technology".
The extensive application possibilities as well as the enormous information potential of NGS technology are counterparts to a high instrumental and organisational effort in the provision and further development of this methodology. Large financial, personnel and organisational resources are required to operate the NGS technology at an internationally competitive level - especially as the technology continues to develop rapidly.