Tag-based approaches were originally designed to increase the throughput of capillary sequencing, where concatemers of short sequences were first used in expression profiling. New Next Generation Sequencing methods largely extended the use of tag-based approaches as the tag lengths perfectly match with the short read length of highly parallel sequencing reactions. Tag-based approaches will maintain their important role in life and biomedical science, because longer read lengths are often not required to obtain meaningful data for many applications. Whereas genome re-sequencing and de novo sequencing will benefit from ever more powerful sequencing methods, analytical applications can be performed by tag-based approaches, where the focus shifts from 'sequencing power' to better means of data analysis and visualization for common users. Today Next Generation Sequence data require powerful bioinformatics expertise that has to be converted into easy-to-use data analysis tools. The book's intention is to give an overview on recently developed tag-based approaches along with means of their data analysis together with introductions to Next-Generation Sequencing Methods, protocols and user guides to be an entry for scientists to tag-based approaches for Next Generation Sequencing.
About the Author: Matthias Harbers works in the Japanese biotechnology industry and holds a position as Senior Visiting Scientist at the RIKEN Omics Science Center in Yokohama, Japan. After gaining his PhD at the University Hamburg (Germany), he worked at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) and the Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire in Strasbourg (France).
Main research areas are:
-Transcriptome analysis
-Preparation of genomic resources
-Biomarker discovery
Matthias Harbers contributed to advanced scientific publications in high-ranking journals such as Science, PNAS, Nature Genetics, Nature Methods, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nucleic Acids Research, Genome Research, and Genes and Development among others.

Gunter Kahl is Professor for Plant Molecular Biology at Frankfurt University, Germany. After his PhD in plant biochemistry, he spent two years with Joe Varner, MSU, East Lansing, and James Bonner, CalTech, Pasadena, USA.
Main research areas:
-Sequencing and analysis of fungal, plant and animal genomes
-Transcriptome analysis in pro- and eukaryotic organisms
-Technology development
Gunter Kahl cooperates with a series of research institutions throughout Europe, in Japan, the USA, Israel, India, and Latin America. He served in expert missions for IAEA, FAO, and UNESCO in many countries, and is presently Chief Scientific Officer in the SME GenXPro GmbH at the Frankfurt Innovation Center Biotechnology.