A cartridge for automated processing of a biological sample, the cartridge comprising - a sample compartment for receiving a biological sample comprising cellular material; - means for liberating or purifying nucleic acid from the cellular material received in the sample compartment, said means comprising at least chemical reagents and being arranged to enter in fluid communication with said sample compartment; the cartridge further comprising three separate compartments positioned downstream of the sample compartment and of the means for liberating or purifying nucleic acid, each of said three separate compartments being configured to receive a portion of the liberated or purified nucleic acid, wherein: ∘ the first of the three separate compartments is a first thermocycling qPCR compartment suitable for amplifying nucleic acids and for allowing detection of signals generated during such amplification and is comprising at least one set of primers for amplifying at least one disease-associated target nucleic acid sequence; ∘ the second of the three separate compartments is a second thermocycling qPCR compartment and is comprising a plurality of sets of primers for generating amplicons of different sizes that are adapted for performing a nucleic acid quality control qPCR; ∘ the third of the three separate compartments is a library compartment for preparing a next-generation sequencing nucleic acid library defined as a set of polynucleotides ready for sequence analysis by an NGS strategy, the library compartment comprising reagents necessary for preparing the NGS nucleic acid library, said reagents comprising at least: ▪ means for generation of nucleic acid fragments from the portion of the liberated or purified nucleic acid received into the library compartment; ▪ oligonucleotide adapters suitable for the NGS strategy; and ▪ means for attaching the oligonucleotide adapters to at least one, preferably both ends of said generated nucleic acid fragments. - a sample compartment for receiving a biological sample comprising cellular material; - means for liberating or purifying nucleic acid from the cellular material received in the sample compartment, said means comprising at least chemical reagents and being arranged to enter in fluid communication with said sample compartment; ∘ the first of the three separate compartments is a first thermocycling qPCR compartment suitable for amplifying nucleic acids and for allowing detection of signals generated during such amplification and is comprising at least one set of primers for amplifying at least one disease-associated target nucleic acid sequence; ∘ the second of the three separate compartments is a second thermocycling qPCR compartment and is comprising a plurality of sets of primers for generating amplicons of different sizes that are adapted for performing a nucleic acid quality control qPCR; ∘ the third of the three separate compartments is a library compartment for preparing a next-generation sequencing nucleic acid library defined as a set of polynucleotides ready for sequence analysis by an NGS strategy, the library compartment comprising reagents necessary for preparing the NGS nucleic acid library, said reagents comprising at least: ▪ means for generation of nucleic acid fragments from the portion of the liberated or purified nucleic acid received into the library compartment; ▪ oligonucleotide adapters suitable for the NGS strategy; and ▪ means for attaching the oligonucleotide adapters to at least one, preferably both ends of said generated nucleic acid fragments. ▪ means for generation of nucleic acid fragments from the portion of the liberated or purified nucleic acid received into the library compartment; ▪ oligonucleotide adapters suitable for the NGS strategy; and ▪ means for attaching the oligonucleotide adapters to at least one, preferably both ends of said generated nucleic acid fragments.