Development and Evaluation of Standards for Virome Research

Though there is an abundance of studies, applications, and publications on the human bacterial microbiome, there are a limited number of reagents and publications focused specifically on the “virome”. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled virus sequencing on a large scale at an affordable cost. However, the complexities involved in the NGS methodology and the diversity of viral genomes pose a significant challenge to assay standardization. Therefore, there is a critical need for standardized reference materials across the research and diagnostics communities to serve as controls in assay development. To support this need, we are developing a viral panel comprising both quantified virus and virus nucleic acids prepared from diverse RNA and DNA virus families.