MRI: Acquisition of an Illumina MiSeq for Education and Research

维拉诺瓦大学获得了专注于Illumina MiSeq仪器的下一代测序平台。该项目将支持跨越生物学和生物化学学科的高影响力研究项目，并将为研究生和本科生提供使用尖端技术的实践基因组学经验。维拉诺瓦大学是一所主要的本科生机构，致力于招收和留住来自代表不足的群体和弱势背景的学生，2013年有色人种学生占全日制学生的20%以上。该大学也有令人印象深刻的留学记录，截至2013年，所有民族的6年毕业率超过85%。随时准备获得尖端测序技术，以及它促进的跨学科基因组学和生物信息学方法，将支持生物和化学系努力吸引代表人数不足的群体的学生进入STEM职业。该设备将允许维拉诺瓦大学的本科生和硕士基因组学教育的改革，并将成为基因组学新课程的核心内容。许多维拉诺瓦的学生继续参加专业学校或博士项目，学生接触这种技术将为他们未来的科学和医学做好准备。PI和共同PI有着广泛的指导学生的记录，包括同行评审的出版物上的学生，并为顶尖研究生项目的录取做准备，MISeq平台将推动这一学生指导的研究。MISeq平台将促进具有不同兴趣的实验室的研究，包括系统遗传学和系统地理学、进化和物种形成、应对环境条件变化的微生物生态学，以及细菌病原体的研究。这项技术将在不久的将来被至少5个研究小组用于4个主要研究领域：1)mRNA和小RNA转录本的深度测序将解决有关基因如何调控以控制对胁迫的反应、营养供应和激素信号以及指导细胞生长和发育的根本问题。这些方法还将有助于研究基因调控和营养信号是如何被进化力量重塑的。2)芯片序列和RNA-序列方法将被用来了解转录的变化，并识别真菌和细菌物种中的转录因子结合部位。3)基因组DNA的定向测序将被用于解决不确定性，并提高对各种鳞类(爬行动物)分类群中系统发育关系的解析。这些实验的结果将对这些种群的保护工作产生重要影响，并将促进我们对推动进化和物种形成的力量的理解。4)RNA和DNA的测序将用于调查土壤微生物种群，使研究人员能够解决面对气候变化和养分污染时微生物群落的变化如何影响植物生长和养分循环。

An award is made to Villanova University to acquire a next-generation sequencing platformfocused on the Illumina MiSeq instrument. This project will support high-impact researchprograms that span the disciplines of Biology and Biochemistry, and will provide graduate andundergraduate students with hands-on genomics experience using leading-edge technology.Villanova University is a primarily undergraduate institution committed to recruiting and retainingstudents from underrepresented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds, and students of coloraccounted for more than 20% of full-time students in 2013. The University also has an impressiveretention record, with 6 year graduation rates above 85% for all ethnic groups as of 2013. Readyaccess to cutting-edge sequencing technology, and to the interdisciplinary genomics andbioinformatics approaches it facilitates, will support the Biology and Chemistry departments intheir efforts to attract students from underrepresented groups to STEM careers. This equipmentwill allow the transformation of undergraduate and Masters genomics education at Villanova, andwill be a centerpiece of a new course in genomics. Many Villanova students go on to attendprofessional schools or Ph.D. programs, and exposure of students to this technology will preparethem for the science and medicine of the future. The PI and co-PIs have an extensive record ofmentoring students, including students on peer-reviewed publications, and preparing students foracceptance to top graduate programs, and the MiSeq platform will advance this student-directedresearch.The MiSeq platform will advance the research of laboratories with diverse interests that includephylogenomics and phylogeography, evolution and speciation, microbial ecology in response tochanging environmental conditions, and the study of bacterial pathogens. This technology will beroutinely used in the immediate future by at least 5 research groups in 4 main research areas:1) Deep sequencing of the mRNA and small RNA transcriptomes will address fundamentalquestions about how genes are regulated to control responses to stress, nutrientavailability, and hormone signaling, and to direct cellular growth and development. Thesemethods will also support investigation of how gene regulation and nutrient signaling areshaped by evolutionary forces.2) ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq methods will be used to understand changes in transcription andidentify transcription factor binding sites in fungal and bacterial species.3) Targeted sequencing of genomic DNA will be used to resolve uncertainties and increasethe resolution of phylogenetic relationships in a variety of squamate (reptile) taxa. Theresults of these experiments will have important impacts on conservation efforts for thesegroups, and will advance our understanding of the forces that drive evolution andspeciation.4) Sequencing of both RNA and DNA will be used to investigate soil microbial populations,allowing researchers to address how changes in microbial communities impact plantgrowth and nutrient cycling in the face of climate change and nutrient pollution.