SFU and BC Children’s Hospital are seeking an automated nucleic acid extraction and purification instrument to support research investigating microbial genomics for a reverse vaccinology project. The instrument will be housed in the Lee Lab (South Sciences Building) at Simon Fraser University. Research in the Lee Lab is focused on solving challenges of infectious diseases through host-pathogen interactions utilizing a combination of genomics, molecular, and phenotypical analyses. The Lee Lab comprises a multidisciplinary team of bioinformaticians and bench scientists investigating host immune responses during bacterial infection, identifying novel virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes in bacterial pathogens, and determining how bacteria maintain, disseminate, and take-up AMR genes. The Lee Lab is embarking on a reverse vaccinology project that requires the gDNA extraction and whole genome sequencing of bacterial samples.
To facilitate research in the Lee Lab we are asking for a versatile automated nucleic acid extraction and purification instrument that will primarily be used to extract high quality genomic DNA from bacterial pathogens. The instrument must handle at least 96 samples at a time (in 96-well plate formats), maximize walk away time for the users and be capable of switching between protocols and applications with little effort from the user. Currently, our facility can handle 96 samples a week on average but expect to be handling approximately 192 samples a day. The sequencing project initially requires high quality genomic DNA for further processing utilizing Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) Rapid library preparation kit for sequencing whole bacterial genomes. Future projects may use the device for RNA extraction and/or nucleic acid purification from PCR reactions or other enzymatic reactions. Given the scope and sensitivity of our research we require a flexible instrument that can routinely produce high quality purified nucleic acids.
