Greetings:
I am likely to be awarded a grant to purchase, amongst other things, a
96-well capillary DNA sequencer. I would like to get the collective wisdom
of the group to answer the following questions.
(1) We have the opportunity to operate the capillary sequencer as an
instrument dedicated to high-throughput sequencing for some genomics grants
(mostly ESTs, but possibly also moving onto shotgun genomic
libraries; this is coupled to microarray production and robotics will be
in place for this purpose). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the
capillary sequencer be incorporated into the structure of the existing core
sequencing facility, which is currently based around two 377 instruments.
Please provide me with your comments as to these alternatives.
(2) What types of ancillary upstream equipment are either essential or
recommended for use with a capillary sequencer? Downstream?
(3) Any thoughts as to which instrument is preferred? -- ABI 3700 or
MegaBACE (others?).
(4) I note commercial labs now offer custom sequencing at $13/run. What
do you envisage the impact of the commercial sector (both short and
long-term) on core sequencing lab activities within universities? How
should these facilities respond?
I look forward to your responses.
David Galbraith
________________
David W. Galbraith
Professor of Plant Sciences
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Arizona
303 Forbes Building
Tucson Arizona 85721 USA.
Tel: (520) 621-9153
Fax: (520) 621-7186
Email: galbraith at arizona.eduhttp://latin.arizona.edu/galbraith
Plant-Insect Interaction program: http://ag.arizona.edu/pii-rtg
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