Editing BioMicroCenter:News (section)

=== SUMMER 2025 ===
<B>Sequencing Updates:</B>
We are completing an overhaul of the sequencing technologies in the core and will be retiring many of our older sequencers in the very near future. The new offerings we have introduced over the last few years provide significant improvements in quality and price point and support both larger and smaller scale experiments. 

<U>High Yield Sequencers (>1b reads)</U>: The price war on the high-end sequencers has made the NovaSeq6000 in the core all but obsolete, but has also created a glut of capacity in the area. To access these lower prices we have transitioned to an outsourcing model using the NovaSeqX, Illumina’s top end sequencer, taking advantage of placements at neighboring academic institutions (DFCI, Broad, Harvard). We have worked closely with these shared resources to provide the best prices we can on each service. All the logistics (from QC to data delivery) will still be handled by the BioMicro Center and it will work just as if you are submitting to the core. As we do have preferential pricing at many of these institutions, we cannot reasonably place the pricing on our website. Instead, you will be able to see the pricing as you submit on ilabs (or by request). 

<U>Mid Yield Sequencers (250m-1.2b)</U>: BMC will continue to support mid-yield sequencing on site with our Element AVITI24. The AVITI provides both a higher quality read than Illumina as well as a dramatically better price than the older NextSeq500. We anticipate a software upgrade in the next few weeks that will also increase the yield per lane from 400m to ~600m reads.

<U>Low Yield Sequencers (<250m reads)</U>: BMC will also support low yield experiments with both the Singular G4 as well as a new MiSeq i100. The Singular G4 is the lowest cost sequencer we now have with 100m reads available for $300 (50PE). It does require different anchor sequences, but is perfect for pilot experiments. For those needing longer reads or P5/P7 anchors, we are also acquiring a MiSeq i100 to replace the aging MiSeqs in the core. Importantly, the i100 will be available both as an assisted service and as a true walkup sequencer, available to anyone with training. Each run of the i100 is significantly faster than the older MiSeq (600nt runs take only 1 day) with some significant price improvements as well. A huge thank you to the VPR equipment replacement fund, Department of Biology, Gene Li, Michael Birnbaum, and an alumni donor for making the MiSeq i100 possible.


<B>UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY SEMINARS:</B>
* Friday, July 25th Covaris: Covaris R230 in extraction, chromatin assays, protein and NGS library prep.
* Tuesday, Aug 19th  10X Genomics: Fresh Frozen/polyA based chemistry added to the Visium HD
* TBD, Sept  Illumina: Introduction to the MiSeq i100