Technological advances in sequencing capabilities have rapidly accelerated our understanding of human health and disease. From the workhorse short-read Illumina sequencing data to the recent advent of third-generation sequencing instruments such as PacBio, Nanopore, that now enable single molecule sequencing, genomics and its applications has assumed a wider scope in recent times ranging from specialised studies such as transcriptomics, epigenomics, metagenomics to more specific application areas such as biomarker discovery, pharmacogenomics, disease diagnosis, identification of novel genes in disease mechanisms, drug repurposing and disease risk predictions.

Gall bladder cancer (GBC) is an aggressive gastrointestinal malignancy with a poor prognosis. It is the 20th most common type of cancer worldwide and its incidence is particularly high in specific regions of the world including Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Korea, Japan and India and is currently rising in Western populations (https://bit.ly/3kSLDMw) (Figure 1). In the United States, it is a more common malignancy in Southwestern Native Americans and Mexican Americans. There is also a gender disparity with GBC more prevalent in females than males.

In 2013, single-cell sequencing was selected as the method of the year to highlight its ability to sequence DNA and RNA in individual cells. The advantages of such high-resolution sequencing are to unveil previously unknown cell population heterogeneity and to perform more accurate analysis. The high degree of heterogeneity in tumor tissue is widely considered to relate to the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and metastasis. Traditional sequencing methods can only detect cell populations then get the average of the signals in a group of cells. Now with the help of single-cell sequencing and analysis, researchers can explore the heterogeneity among individual cells, detect rare cell types, study immune process and do much more.

Big data and big data analytics are the buzz words that we have been hearing for the past few years, which have relevance in all fields and specialties. In the field of medicine, the process of clinical documentation and analysis have been very meticulous and exhaustive in the past contributing to major discoveries in associating diseases with genes, understanding disease epidemiology and in generating and testing hypothesis. The advances in computational science and data processing have streamlined the management of medical big data creating opportunities to impact the health care system with accurate prognostication and disease management.

COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 23 million individuals and claimed over 800,000 lives globally as of August 2020. SARS-CoV-2, the organism causing COVID-19 belongs to the family of coronaviruses and shares 79% genome sequence identity with SARS-CoV. The spike antigen used by the virus to enter host cells became the prime target for immediate vaccine development efforts because of prior work on SARS-CoV that showed neutralizing antibodies against the spike antigen protected mice and chimps against new infection.

Cancer immunologists scooped the 2018 medicine noble prize for pioneering treatments that unleash the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells. It represents a completely new principle which unlike the previous strategies that target the cancer cells, rather targets the brakes — the checkpoints — of the host immune system.

It’s widely believed that South Asians are born with a high risk for several non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc, which often points to unhealthy lifestyle and environmental factors. For example, higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes is often over-attributed to overweight/obesity in Indians.

Genetic testing can prove to be a crucial element in clinical diagnosis as it offers critical insights that can help a clinician in managing, treating and even sometimes prevent an inherited condition. A specific diagnosis and treatment regimen can be determined once the clinician runs a specific array of genetic tests after knowing the detailed family history of the patient.

For the majority of people, the mere mention of snakes conjures involuntary shivers! These stealthy critters have a forked tongue, unblinking eyes and either have fangs that deliver venom to immobilize/kill prey or strong muscles to asphyxiate. Snakes have been around for millions of years, and have used this time to become incredibly effective predators and can be found on all continents except Antarctica.

Cancer vaccines are an upcoming therapeutic modality mobilizing body’s own immune system to eradicate advanced tumors and holds tremendous promise for cancer patients unresponsive to checkpoint inhibitors.