History

With roots entrenched in the initial draft sequence of the Human Genome, the history of the Genomics Platform follows a path of ambitious achievement to recognize the promise of genomic medicine

1990-2001	The Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research was established to generate data for the Human Genome Project.
January 2001	Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome published in Nature.
November 2003	Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard established at 320 Charles St. location. Genetic Analysis Platform, Genome Sequencing Platform, and Biological Samples Platform established.
December 2003	The International HapMap Project paper is published in Nature, with majority of data produced by Broad Genetic Analysis Platform.
September 2005	Genome Sequencing Platform receives 454 GS20 Sequencer, the first “Next Generation Sequencing” instrument to hit the market.
December 2005	NIH launches The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project; Broad Genome Sequencing and Genetic Analysis Platforms team up to pilot the project.
September 2006	Broad installs Solexa Genome Analyzer, with the capability to sequence 1 billion basepairs per run.
November 2006	NHGRI announces Broad Institute as 1 of 3 large-scale sequencing centers for TCGA project.
2007-2009	Illumina (formerly Solexa) sequencing scale-up; Genome Sequencing Platform scales to 95 instruments, becoming world’s largest sequencing center.
2008-2010	Developed Automated Sample Preparation Protocols to scale-up library preparation and exome capture protocols.
January 2012	Genome Sequencing Platform, Genetic Analysis Platform, and Biological Samples Platform merge under newly formed Genomics Platform under leadership of Stacey Gabriel.
December 2013	Genomics Platform launches Clinical Research Sequencing Platform (CRSP) to provide physicians and researchers access to CLIA-regulated whole exome sequencing.
February 2014	Genomics Platforms takes receipt of the first HiSeqX sequencer, with the capability of sequencing 8 human genomes per run.
September 2014	All sites move into 320 Charles St., co-localizing the entire Genomics Platform for the first time.
October 2014	All 14 HiSeq X instruments run at full capacity for the first time, demonstrating, on average, the completion of a single human genome every 32 minutes.
April 2016	Whole genome analysis moves to the cloud.
2016	Total yearly data generation doubles, again.
December 2017	Genomics Platform receives delivery of the first commercially available NovaSeq instrument.
April 2018	On the 15th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, the Genomics Platform completes sequencing of its 100,000th whole human genome.
July 2018	Data generation hits a monthly high record of 700+ terabases, equivalent to completing a human genome every five and a half minutes.
2018	Half a dozen new services launch, including Clinical Whole Genome Sequencing, Liquid Biopsy, and Single Cell Sequencing.