Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis

Unlike most books reviewed for the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, this is not a book about statistics.While there is certainly some statistical content in this book, it is a book about next-generation sequencing, modern techniques to determine the sequence of DNA and RNA.Next-generation sequencing refers to newer techniques, which allow for much quicker and cheaper sequencing of DNA and RNA, sometimes with very small samples.This book describes the nature of next-generation sequencing, how it is generated, and a big picture view of how the data are analysed.The potential audience of this book is broad, ranging from life sciences researchers to bioinformaticians and biostatisticians.Most of this book covers the biology of DNA/RNA and the technology involved in modern sequencing, which includes, but is not limited to, different next-generation sequencing techniques, DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing, whole-exome sequencing, detection of actionable variants, ChIP-Seq (which can be used for mapping protein-DNA interactions), DNA methylation sequencing, metagenome sequencing of microbiome communities, and new directions.The types of statistical and machine learning methods used to analyse the data are discussed, but the book does not go into detail of the methods used.This book is ideal for researchers looking to start work related to next-generation sequencing.Statisticians, bioinformaticians, and other nonbiologist researchers would find this work an excellent introduction to the field of next-generation sequencing before starting to work in this area.Biologists not experienced with next-generation sequencing may also find this work useful if they want to better understand the techniques as well as methods of analysis.This book would also serve well as a textbook for a course for undergraduate or graduate students in nextgeneration sequencing data analysis.Overall, I would recommend this book for those interested in learning the technical details behind next-generation sequencing methods.