Guest Editorial: Selected extended papers from the 12th international conference on post-genomic technologies

With the completion of the Human Genome Project in the 21st century, we have officially entered the era of post-genome technology. The rapid development of genomic technology is one of the fastest-growing and most influential cutting-edge technologies in the field of biomedical science. From high-throughput to single-molecule, from single-cell to multi-omics, from precision medicine to systems medicine, technologies in the post-genome era have triggered major changes in life science and medical research models, as well as medical clinical practice and related industries, providing a strong guarantee for human life and health.

Since the beginning of this century, in order to enhance academic exchanges in the field of advanced genomic technologies in the international academic community and cultivate innovative young talents, the series of International Conference on Post-Genomic Technologies have been organised. The 12^th International Conference on Post-Genomic Technologies was held online in October 2022. The current Special Issue is a collection of selected extended Papers from the 12th International Conference on Post-Genomic Technologies, which covers researches in the field of genome technology and related disciplines.

In this Special Issue, we have received six papers, all of which underwent peer review. Of these originally submitted papers, five have been accepted thus the overall submissions were of high quality, which marks the success of this Special Issue.

Han et al. present a strategy to prepare anionic liposomes without organic solvents for effective siRNA delivery. Organic solvents are necessary for the preparation of anionic liposomes for siRNA delivery. The remove of organic solvent is time-consuming and the residual organic solvent is not only a hidden danger, but also affects the stability of anionic liposomes. In this work, glycerol is successfully used to promote the dispersion of lipids and the formation of anionic liposomes with a spherical particle size of 188.9 nm. And with the help of Ca²⁺, siRNA has been encapsulated in anionic liposomes. Therefore, anionic liposomes prepared with glycerol will be a safe and effective delivery platform for siRNA and even other nucleic acid drugs.

Lu et al. summarise the scRNA-seq data analysis method to improve analysis performance of noisy sequencing data. Some steps of the single-cell transcriptome analysis process have been highlighted, starting with the currently available single-cell transcriptome sequencing technologies, and the single-cell transcriptome sequencing data processing process, which describes the evaluation methods for single-cell transcriptome sequencing data processing methods. Overall, the manuscript provides some assistance to users when selecting methods and tools to process single-cell transcriptome data to take full advantage of scRNA-seq.

Gao et al. review the research progress of metabolomics and its applications in assisted reproductive technology. Compared with traditional clinical chemistry and other research methods, metabolomics is a “holistic view” research concept that reflects the metabolic characteristics of organisms systematically and comprehensively. Metabolomics will likely play a broader role in the future with the continuous progress of analytical and data analysis methods.

Li et al. introduce a visualised genotyping assay with oral swabs in a closed tube by nested invasive reaction assisted with gold nanoparticle probes. Here, they proposed a closed-tube visualised method for genotyping with rapid lysis of oral swabs, which has been validated by genotyping the clopidogrel SNPs. Samples can be prepared within 6 min, and the whole turnaround time is within 90 min. This is a cost-effective method that requires only a simple PCR engine, and all reactions can be carried out sequentially in a tube, reducing cross-contamination of the amplicons. The visualised genotyping assay could be widely used, such as typing other SNPs and in vitro diagnosis or prognosis of other disease-related genes in clinical settings.

Hu et al. review the development and application of nanopore technology in protein conformational changes, translocation dynamics, translocation velocity control, and protein sequencing from computational and simulation perspectives, providing theoretical guidance for future disease diagnosis and drug design. The nanopore sensor is a powerful single-molecule detection and characterisation tool with the advantages of high throughput, label-free and low sample volume required. Despite the promising application of this technology, some challenges still need to be overcome to breakthrough and perfect the technology.