Hospitals, researchers excited to take DNA sequencing to new levels

Seven months after doctors and scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin published a groundbreaking paper describing how they read the genetic script of a young boy and used the results to treat him, the largest hospital chain in the New England region is launching its own pilot program to sequence the genomes of select patients. Partners HealthCare System, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, has enrolled its first family in the sequencing program and plans to follow the pilot effort by introducing the technology to its hospitals early in 2012. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/20)