epidemiology

In addition to being time consuming and irrelevant for detection of a wide panel of pathogenic targets, current diagnostic methods for pathogens detection (microbial cultures, PCR-RFLP, test strips…) are almost useless in case of complex biological threats (e.g. several pathogens in a mixed sample). Thus, High-throughput sequencing (HTS) becomes undoubtedly a relevant tool for biodefense activities because besides being now affordable, it allows rapid identification of microorganisms without a priori, without isolation or prior cultivation, and can be even applied to microorganisms embedded in extremely complex matrices (i.e. metagenomic samples; e.g. soil samples, clinical samples, contaminated food…).