NovaSeq 6000 Sequencing System

Title: NovaSeq6000 High-Throughput DNA Sequencer Project Summary/Abstract. The UAB Genomics Core is requesting funds to purchase an Illumina NovaSeq6000 NextGeneration DNA sequencer to align the increased demand for sequencing and expectations of increased data output at low cost of the core's users with the appropriate technology. The NovaSeq6000 (NovaSeq) is currently the highest throughput sequencing instrument on the market and can produce up to 6 trillion bases of sequence from one instrument run. The advantages of the NovaSeq to our NIH funded investigators are 1) access to state-of-the-art sequencing technology, 2) ability to perform experiments prohibited with the core's current instruments, 3) significant cost savings, 4) reduction in experimental bias in terms of batch effect, and 5) decreased times for data acquisition. The Genomics Core is the only genomics core on the UAB campus and serves the medical school, graduate school, undergraduate campus, and is the Comprehensive Genomics Shared Resource within the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center structure. The core currently processes samples for various high throughput sequencing assays on a NextSeq500 and a MiSeq. Increased demand for sequencing from multiple UAB investigators combined with the requirement of increased sequencing depth make our NextSeq system near obsolete. Since its inception 20 years ago, the Genomics Core has dedicated its resources to providing advanced technologies for genetic and genomic research. The core has supported 188 faculty from across campus, 86 with NIH awards. Moreover, the core has supported various investigators at neighboring institutions such as University of South Alabama, Alabama State University, and Emory University. The research supported by the core is incredibly diverse and includes cancer biology, nephrology, immunology, cancer immunology, ecology, cardiac development, ciliopathies, skeletal development, neurobiology, bacterial-host interactions, metagenomics, SARS-CoV-2 sequence analysis, epigenetics and single cell sequencing analysis. The addition of the NovaSeq to the UAB Genomics Core will allow us the ability to provide investigators with the sequencing capacity they demand at a price point they expect and will allow the core to expand services.