Applications of next generation sequencing in (epi)genetics

Abstract

Technological developments in DNA sequencing are an excellent example of how major advances in scientific techniques can lead to numerous conceptual discoveries in the life sciences. Starting in the 1970s with the development of DNA sequencing by chain termination methods, through the introduction of fluorescently labeled terminators and progress in sequencing automation in the late 1980s and 1990s, to the introduction of next-generation sequencers in the mid 2000s, these new approaches consistently opened novel and often unexpected horizons for life scientists. In this introduction, I present the major technological developments in DNA sequencing, discuss current possibilities and future challenges and opportunities, and outline the scope of this thesis