INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The NGS Quality Initiative Peer Network: Improving Sequencing Quality through Information Sharing and Collaboration
By Shannon Mahoney, senior specialist, Infectious Diseases
Over the last decade, public health laboratories have expanded their use of next generation sequencing( NGS) technologies and workflows. As laboratories have increased NGS use, they have also needed to develop new approaches for quality management. To promote further knowledge sharing and collaboration between public health organizations, the APHL-CDC NGS Quality Initiative( NGS QI) established a peer network program. The peer network seeks to improve sequencing quality management activities and promote greater collaboration and expansion of sequencing capabilities in public health laboratories.
Facilitating Connection
Following a successful pilot program with Florida and Michigan in 2024, APHL opened applications for laboratories to participate in the peer network program in 2025. Nine public health laboratories were selected and matched with one another, which included public health laboratories in the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Partnered organizations, with support from APHL, developed agendas for two-day site visits based on current needs and interests. Common agenda topics covered a wide array of sequencing quality considerations, including management of sequencing data, development of sequencingspecific standard operating procedures, validation of sequencing assays and improving communications with information technology( IT) personnel and epidemiologists.
Each laboratory hosted a site visit, which gave participants a chance to observe the host laboratory’ s sequencing workflows and quality procedures. On-site discussions, held between dozens of wet laboratory sequencing staff, bioinformaticians, quality managers and laboratory leadership, provided participants with a unique opportunity to gain exposure to new ideas and protocols for sequencing quality management. These visits gave laboratories the rare opportunity to see how another public health laboratory operates and ample time for collaboration and information sharing.
Future Opportunities
After seeing the types of interactions between epidemiologists and laboratorians in Iowa, Kristin Carpenter- Azevedo, MLS, supervisor for the Sequencing Core Laboratory in the Rhode Island Public Health Laboratory said,“ We have already begun communicating with our epidemiologists and have really embraced inviting as many people [ as possible ] to the table to seek input.” Additionally, Rhode Island has adopted a series of automated tools developed by the Iowa laboratory, streamlining time-consuming tasks in their current sequencing workflow processes.
Reflecting on their peer network engagement with the District of Columbia Public Health Laboratory Division and Virginia Department of Consolidated Laboratory Services, South Carolina Public Health Laboratory Microbiologist III Gregory Goodwin, MS, observed that their laboratory will be working to revise documentation on sequencing quality control metrics, adapting their standard operating procedures to better reflect individual sequencing assays, and will redevelop their data storage and retention procedures based on knowledge gained from their peer network engagement.
While the primary purpose of this program was to provide the opportunity for laboratories to visit and learn from one another, these interactions provided a springboard for long-lasting relationships and collaborations. APHL continues to support and foster the collaborative relationships developed during this program and track and monitor the longterm impact. The peer network provided APHL and its federal partners with added insight into the needs of APHL members and how ongoing work can be better tailored to enhance advanced molecular detection activities in the field of public health. g
In 2019, APHL and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC) launched the APHL / CDC NGS Quality Initiative, a joint effort to assist laboratories in developing improved laboratory practices and national health efforts around NGS-focused quality management systems. The Initiative has published more than a hundred customizable tools and resources for NGS quality management that encompass the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute’ s 12 Quality System Essentials.
24 LAB MATTERS Spring 2026 PublicHealthLabs @ APHL. org
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