Editing BioMicroCenter:News2017+ (section)

=== JANUARY 2017 ===
BMC is officially moving almost all of our sample intake to [https://mit.ilabsolutions.com iLabs]. We have spent the past several months moving the forms for Illumina library prep, sequencing and Pacbio sequencing over to the new system and testing it out - thank you to the labs that helped us with our beta testing! You can find BMC in iLabs at https://mit.ilabsolutions.com/ in the KI Genomics Core / MIT BioMicro Center section. The new forms are under "Request Services". All projects using MIT cost objects should use iLabs going forward. Projects being billed to outside groups or by PO should continue to use the forms on the website.<BR><BR>

The [[BioMicroCenter:Covaris|Covaris E220]] is now up and running. We will be having a [[BioMicroCenter:Technology_Seminar_Series|seminar for it on January 11th]] (details TBA). Our Covaris rep will be on hand that day to help you set up your protocols as well. Please let Jon or myself know if you would like to schedule time. There is no charge for this retraining. <BR><BR>

The price for SYBR green is decreasing significantly to $25/ml. In the fall, we compared a number of new providers based on their ability to quantify Illumina libraries. Of the two we tested, one preformed as well as KAPA (the other did not). KAPA, in turn, was able to lower the cost of their SYBR significantly which we prefer as it will maintain consistency. Due to the lower cost, we are also removing the pooling charges from Illumina sequencing - those costs are being absorbed into the QC costs instead. The Roche SYBR did not match this lower cost and we will be discontinuing our bulk purchases of it.<BR><BR>

Finally, we are introducing a significantly cheaper library prep for [[BioMicroCenter:DNA_HTL|very high-throughput experiments]]. We have been collaborating closely with [http://ttplabtech.com/liquid-handling/mosquito_hv/ TTP Labtech to adapt their Mosquito] liquid handler for core facility settings. Our first method is NexteraXT. Using the Mosquito, we have been able to reduce the reaction volume by an order of magnitude. A 96 well plate will cost <$15/sample and a 384 well plate is under $7.50/sample. These new methods are ideally suited for single cell and amplicon work but are NOT well suited for de novo assembly as the library complexity is lower due to the lower amount of input DNA. TTP will be giving the [[BioMicroCenter:Technology_Seminar_Series|seminar in February]].