NovaSeqX Plus: short-read sequencing at the Centre for Genomic Research

Successive advances in DNA sequencing technology have driven an explosion in genomics research over the last decade or more and has become an essential tool to answer questions in bioscience more generally. UK science has an enviable place at the forefront of genomics but to maintain this position it is essential that it invests in new DNA sequencing technology as it emerges.

The proposal here is to purchase an Illumina NovaSeqX Plus sequencing platform, which is a new machine from the market leader in DNA sequencing and which makes its previous machine obsolete. It can produce 16Tbp (16,000 trillion letters of genetic code) in the space of 48 hours and for around one third of the cost from the previous machine. This allows us to do more and better science.

Genomics experiments are now cheaper, which allows more researchers to use the technology within their research budget. It allows researchers to perform bigger experiments that have more samples to give more rigorous results. Finally, it allows new experiments to be performed that would otherwise be out of reach due to cost, these include looking at the way thousands of genes are switched on and off across thousands of individual cells or to deep sequence DNA from complex communities of bacteria or viruses.

The equipment will be placed in the Centre for Genomic Research at the University of Liverpool, which has a well-established track record in offering genomics expertise and DNA sequencing to the UK community. It is the largest sequencing facility within a UK university and, unlike many facilities, supports a lot of non-medical work, making it particularly well-suited to supporting research in the BBSRC remit.

It will be used for a range of applications, including crop improvement, controlling animal disease, understanding fundamental biology and developing new methods or technologies. It will also act as infrastructure to support UK industry and to maintain pandemic preparedness.

We will help users access the technology by providing advice on experimental design, support with data analysis and training workshops on genomics. The DNA sequence data produced be made available to researchers worldwide using publicly available repositories. The careers of our staff will be supported by increased job security and skill development, and this lets us retain their important technical expertise.

The equipment will allow us to reduce our environmental impact because it uses less plastic waste and lower transport costs from reagents that now no longer have to be shipped on dry ice.

The proposal is good value for money because (i) the DNA sequencing is much cheaper than previously, (ii) we able to offer the service widely, so making good use of the machine capacity, and (iii) we are able to provide other expensive equipment in our laboratory required to run the equipment effectively in preparing samples and processing data.