SciLifeLab receives funding for cutting-edge sequencers
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SciLifeLab has been granted a SEK 200 million gift from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation dedicated to expanding the genomics capacity in Sweden. The funding will primarily be used for 10 Illumina HiSeq XTen sequencers, associated running costs and computer resources.
The National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) is one of SciLifeLabs largest platforms. The acquisition of the HiSeqXTen system makes it the third largest genomics platform in Europe.
‘We are very pleased to be able to offer human whole genome sequencing of up to 15,000 individual genomes per year, enabling scientists to perform internationally competitive studies of human diseases and evolution’, says Ann-Christine Syvänen at NGI in Uppsala.
She also points out that the grant from KAW will benefit Swedish scientists in human genomics directly via co-funding of their whole genome sequencing projects.
The computer resources at the Uppsala node of the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC-UPPMAX) will simultaneously be expanded with the aid of the grant to accommodate the growing amount of data.
‘In addition, we are proud to offer complementary technologies such as PacBio and Ion Torrent for diverse applications’, adds Ulf Gyllensten at NGI in Uppsala.
In 2013 NGI performed more than 500 projects focusing on a wide variety of topics including human diseases and biodiversity. The projects were led by a large number of scientists from 11 Swedish universities and government agencies and have led to many high-impact publications.
David Naylor