#22 smCounter2: somatic variant calling and UMIs with Chang Xu - a podcast by Roman Cheplyaka

In this episode I’m joined by Chang Xu. Chang is a senior biostatistician
at QIAGEN and an author of smCounter2, a low-frequency somatic variant caller.
To distinguish rare somatic mutations from sequencing errors, smCounter2
relies on unique molecular identifiers, or UMIs, which help identify multiple
reads resulting from the same physical DNA fragment.

Chang explains what UMIs are, why they are useful, and how smCounter2 and other
tools in this space use UMIs to detect low-frequency variants.

Links:

• smCounter2 preprint


• smCounter2 github repository


• smCounter publication


• Review of somatic SNV callers

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the podcast on Patreon.

Further episodes of the bioinformatics chat

Further podcasts by Roman Cheplyaka

Website of Roman Cheplyaka