The Wadsworth Center’s Mycobacteriology Laboratory began using WGS in February of 2016 as a clinical test for all New York state cases, becoming the first state public health laboratory to perform WGS of M. tuberculosis isolates.
The Wadsworth Center has been awarded funding through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Grant Program’s Antimicrobial Laboratory Network to support antimicrobial-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis activities from August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026. Two state public health laboratories, including the Wadsworth Center’s Mycobacteriology Laboratory, were selected to conduct whole genome sequencing (WGS) for culture-positive tuberculosis (TB) cases within their states.
This funding will support sequencing for up to 850 TB cases in New York State, providing for:
- clinical first-line drug susceptibility testing, directly informing patient treatment decisions, and
- transmission analysis, enhancing public health efforts to track and control TB spread.
This award strengthens New York’s capacity to respond to tuberculosis by integrating advanced sequencing technologies into both patient care and statewide surveillance.
The Wadsworth Center’s Mycobacteriology Laboratory began using WGS in February of 2016 as a clinical test for all New York state cases, becoming the first state public health laboratory to perform WGS of M. tuberculosis isolates. By replacing several tests, including time consuming culture of the bacterium with WGS, the TB Lab has been able to reduce testing turn-around time from 41 to four days. After a few years of evaluation, the center switched to using WGS as the first line of test in October 2018 and reducing culture based susceptibility testing of WGS predicted pan susceptible M. tuberculosis isolates. The laboratory has also added a targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS) test for clinical specimens like sputum from TB cases to its test menu, further improving the turnaround time to provide comprehensive test results to impact treatment decisions for TB cases.