Editing BioMicroCenter:News2014 (section)

===  JANUARY, 2014 ===
I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. We have several updates to let you know about. Since there are a few more than usual, I’m just going to give you the bullet list which you can check out on our website.

* Upgrade the [[BioMicroCenter:Software#BMC-BCC_Pipeline|basic analysis pipeline for Illumina]] – corrects some bugs, mostly with data overwrite problems, improves speed and provides more QC data, including GC bias checks on all HiSeq runs. 
* New Co-op students -  [[BioMicroCenter:People|Ani Webb and Sam Kaplan]] started this week. 
* New protocol for the Advanced Analytical allows us to do [[BioMicroCenter:Advanced_analytical_Fragment_analyzer|picoRNA]] samples on the machine. This cuts the cost of the analysis in half. We can still do the analysis on the BioAnalyzer if you prefer.
* If you run a lot of AA samples, you can lower your cost significantly by submitting the samples preloaded in a plate for the machine (contact us at biomicro@mit.edu if you are interested in this).
* Testing out a [[BioMicroCenter:Forms|new sample submission form]] based on Excel instead of Word. We’re piloting it with the BioAnalyzer form.
* We’re also trying to improve communication by sending database snapshots to users doing Illumina sequencing to make sure we have all the data entered correctly.
* Data storage costs have gone down significantly to [[BioMicroCenter:Pricing|$280/TB/y]]
* There are several IAP sessions highlighting software packages available from the MIT libraries. These include [ http://student.mit.edu/searchiap/iap-BD6D0CF8E096B284E0400312852F4A61.html Ingenuity Pathway Analysis,] [http://student.mit.edu/searchiap/iap-BD6D0CF8DC3DB284E0400312852F4A61.html GeneGO,] and our own [http://student.mit.edu/searchiap/iap-9289af8d41aa4e8e01425c9c633508c6.html training session on using Rous]