Instrumentation

We are proud to offer sequencing services on the first NovaSeq in Western Canada. Contact us for a consultation to plan your next project.

The NovaSeq 6000 is Illumina's latest sequencer. It offers massive throughput and project flexibility, as it can run two patterned flow cells at a time, with each capable of generating up to 3000 gigabases of sequence. It can sequence up to 48 human genomes at 30X coverage, but a variety of research goals are applicable. Patterned flow cells offer even spacing of sequencing clusters by employing nanowells at fixed locations, significantly increasing sequencing reads and data output.

The NextSeq is currently our preferred platform for smaller genome, exome, or transcriptome projects. This benchtop sequencer can be operated in high-throughput mode to generate up to 120 gigabases of sequence per run, with each run taking 1-2 days to complete.

The MiSeq benchtop sequencer is optimized for sequencing projects with lower diversity sequences, including 16S rRNA metagenomics, PCR amplicons, and small genomes. Sequencing runs take 1-3 days to complete and generate ~ 0.3-15 gigabases of sequence.

The iSeq 100 is Illumina's smallest benchtop sequencer. It is available for small-scale sequencing projects including bacterial and viral whole genome sequencing, targeted sequence of a set of genes, gene expression analysis, or 16S metagenomics. Primarily, we use it in our quality control workflow to ensure sequencing reads will be distributed equally among librarie, and that they will cluster efficiently before a NovaSeq run. The iSeq can generate up to 1.2 gigabases of sequence per run.

While we do not currently offer Nanopore sequencing as a service, we are happy to provide support for customers with their own MinIONs.

The CHGI participated in the MinION Access Program (MAP) to help develop single-molecule nanopore-based DNA sequencing. We have both the original MinION and MinION Mk1 devices. These small sequencers use 500 nanopores per run to sequence long reads of up to 60,000 bases. Please contact us if you have a project which might benefit from this powerful, but still evolving, technology.

The 96-capillary 3730xl DNA Analyzer is the gold standard for high throughput capillary genetic analysis and small-scale DNA sequencing. It's ideal for traditional Sanger DNA sequencing and DNA fragment analysis applications such as microsatellites, AFLP, SNP analysis, and mutation detection.

This instrument was removed from our services in January 2017, as most of its applications can now be performed on the Illumina MiSeq. The Personal Genome Machine used novel pH sensing semiconductor sequencing chips for rapid sequencing, producing up to 1 gigabase of sequence per run. The PGM was commonly used for sequencing Ampliseq gene panels, PCR amplicons, and small genomes.

Successor to the SOLiD 4 System, the SOLiD 5500xl Genetic Analyzer was capable of higher throughput with a shorter run time. The CHGI operated two of these instruments which were capable of generating up to 45 gigabases of sequence per day. The SOLiD 5500xl platform and supporting products were discontinued by Thermo Fisher in 2016 as NGS technology evolved.

The SOLiD 4 System was the first sequencer acquired by the Centre for Health Genomics and Informatics in 2011. It could produce 6 gigabases of sequencer over 240 million reads per run, but the run time could take up to two weeks! Common applications at the time were targeted resequencing, gene expression studies, whole genome sequencing, ChIP-seq, and miRNA discovery.