New Instruments in the ICBR NGS Shared Resource Will Lower DNA Sequencing Costs for UF Investigators

Steven Madore, PhD, ICBR Associate Director for Science

The mission of the ICBR Next Generation DNA Sequencing shared resource (NGS-SR) is to provide cost-effective access to cutting edge DNA sequencing technologies for the UF research community. The NGS-SR offers library preparation and sequencing instrumentation for both short (300-500 base pairs fragments) and long read (5,000 to 25,000 base pair fragments) sequencing applications. The Illumina platform has been the work horse technology for projects requiring high throughput short reads, and currently the NovaSeq X Plus sequencer fully meets the need for a highly accurate, high-capacity instrument.  The NovaSeq X plus was purchased in 2023 with funding support from the University of Florida Research (UFR) and the University of Florida Health Cancer Center (UFHCC). This instrument replaced an ageing NovaSeq 6000 model, and the reduced cost for reagents and supplies for the NovaSeq X Plus has reduced sequencing costs by up to 60%. Recently, two ageing, low-capacity Illumina MiSeq sequencers, used primarily for supporting projects focused on microbiome and metagenomics that require targeted sequencing of 16s rRNA, were replaced with a single MiSeq i100 instrument.

“It is imperative that the ICBR NGS Shared Resource continues to provide access to cutting edge technologies like the REVIO and MiSeq i100” says Dr. Diansy Zincke, ICBR NGS Scientific Director, “ New instrument upgrades provide UF investigators with lower costs and quicker turnaround time, all without compromising data quality.”

This instrument purchase was funded by the UFR. Once again savings associated with reduced costs for supplies and reagents for the new MiSeq i100 will reduce user costs by up to 50%.  The MiSeq i100 also has a significantly shorter run time thereby increasing sample throughput per week.

Offering both short and long-read sequencing services ensures that UF investigators have access to the technology platform that best suits their individual research needs.  Recently the PacBio SEQUEL IIe long read sequencing instrument was replaced with a new REVIO model sequencer. The acquisition was supported by funding from both UFR and UFHCC. Reduction in sequencing reagents makes the REVIO more cost-effective to operate, with cost savings to UF investigators reaching up to 50%.  On board data processing also reduces run time, thereby increasing the number of weekly sequencing runs.

Both the REVIO and MiSeq i100 are now fully operational.