Episode 29: From IRAD to Impact

In this episode, David Yarmosh and Briana Benton revisit the origins and evolution of the ATCC Genome Portal, tracing its journey from an ambitious research concept in 2017 to a groundbreaking resource for high-quality, traceable genomic data. Benton shares how early internal research proposals—including her push for long-read sequencing and Dr. Marco Riojas’ vision for sequencing ATCC’s collection—laid the foundation for the portal. Their work, along with challenges in microbiome research where public genome assemblies failed to match known inputs, underscored the need for a reliable genomic resource. Launched in 2019 with just 250 genomes and basic sequencing tools, the portal has since expanded to over 5,500 genomes, backed by automation, a larger team, and advanced sequencing capabilities. The portal is continually evolving and now includes data from bacteriology, virology, mycology, and protistology collections, all accessible via a secure REST-API. Looking ahead, ATCC plans to enhance the portal with methylation data, expanded annotations, and additional QC-related metadata, striving to create a comprehensive “digital twin” of each organism to reinforce scientific reproducibility and informed decision-making.