2023-LS-338 - RFP Liquid Handling Robot for next-generation sequencing sample handling & prep

SFU is seeking a liquid handling robot capable of performing validated next-generation sequencing library preparation, qPCR/PCR reaction setups, DNA/RNA normalization, and nucleic acid extractions workflows to support research investigating infectious diseases in One-Health settings. The instrument will be housed in the Centre for Infectious Disease Genomics and One Health (CIDGOH)/Hsiao Lab in Blusson Hall at Simon Fraser University. Research at CIDGOH is focused on solving challenges of infectious diseases through a One Health lens. CIDGOH has a large multidisciplinary team investigating bacterial infection outbreaks, virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance, and environmental surveillance among many other projects. To facilitate research at CIDGOH we are asking for a versatile liquid handling robot that will primarily be used for Oxford Nanopore library preparation. The instrument ideally should handle at least 96 samples at a time, 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 handles 96 samples a week on average, but expect to be handling approximately 192 samples a day. The sequencing projects are mostly bacterial whole-genome, but also will be amplicon sequencing based. We are routinely using three different Nanopore library kits and one Illumina library kit. Along with the library preparation kits, we’d like to use the instrument for sample normalization and magnetic based nucleic acid extraction kits. Given the scope of our research we require a flexible instrument that can routinely switch between validated workflows.