Infectious diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and death worldwide.1 High-throughput, culture-free methods, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), are leading the way for how scientists perform infectious disease research and monitor epidemics and pandemics caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.2 Compared to previous technologies, NGS provides the speed, depth, and accuracy to identify pathogens, detect genetic changes, discover novel mechanisms and genes, and more.3 Illumina offers NGS strategies such as single-genome, multi-pathogen, and discovery sequencing methods with cutting-edge solutions to advance infectious disease research.