Illumina sequencing available at The CRUK CI Genomics Core Facility
Our sequencing service is available across the University of Cambridge, originally born from a collaboration with several partners and departments coordinating efforts to develop the infrastructure. We always try to accommodate any request from within The University of Cambridge but ultimately it is dependent on our current capacity.
Run types by sequencer: MiSeq runs allow a maximum number of cycles depending on the reagent cartridge, but you can request any length and single- or paired-end as required as you own the whole flowcell. Most of our sequencing is carried out on Illumina’s NovaSeq and we can still perform almost any run configuration, including custom primers for your specific libraries. The most commonly requested runs remain paired-end (PE)150 bp and single-read (SR)50 bp, but as more and more single cell or CRISPR screen experiments are sequenced we see interesting trends to asymmetric PE reads to incorporate UMI’s and more creative barcoding strategies.
So, if in doubt just ask. Even for a single lane request with interesting parameters we can often find a suitable partner to enable a flowcell to be run.
Background to the service
Currently we have the following Illumina Sequencers available in the core: 1x NovaSeq and 2x MiSeq sequencers (the fleet of HiSeqs are all now retired – and enjoy a very well deserved rest). The larger sequencers and sequencing infrastructure has been purchased collaboratively over the years with the following Institutes and Departments in Cambridge – to whom we are all forever grateful!
- Gurdon Institute
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
- MRC Cancer Unit
- MRC single-cell infrastructure grant
- CRUK Cambridge Institute
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Department of Haematology
- Institute of Metabolic Sciences
- The Stem Cell Institute
- Centre for Cancer Epidemiology (Strangeways)
- Astra Zeneca
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences
We started with Illumina sequencing in 2007 and have become a centre of excellence for the use of this technology. We purchased an Illumina GA1 in 2007 beginning the collaboration with the Gurdon Institute and Department of Plant Sciences. Since then we have had almost every Illumina instrument in the lab, just never needing the MiniSeq and X10, or as of yet the iSeq. The SBS chemistry continues to be stretched to generate phenomenal volumes of data from a flowcell; we’ve gone from ~1Gb per flowcell on the GA1 to ~1Tb on the HiSeq 4000 and now upwards of 3 Tb on the larger NovaSeq flowcells!
NGS methods and applications: