Equipment to Enhance Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Research at the Marine Science Center

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Rapidly advancing genomic technology is giving unprecedented insight into critically important problems in the coastal ocean, such as climate change, biogeochemical cycling, fishing-induced evolution, eutrophication, and ocean acidification. Faculty, students, and visiting researchers at Northeastern University's Marine Science Center (MSC) have been using genomics to advance knowledge in these areas, but their ability to do so is currently limited due to outdated equipment and lack of some key pieces of equipment for genomics work. This project provides funds to renovate an outdated shared laboratory space into a new Genomics Core Facility and purchase new instruments that will dramatically enhance the MSC's rapidly-growing program in marine genomics. The MSC is a unique leader in advancing basic biological knowledge through the study of urban coastal environments at local, national, and international levels through collaborations with external researchers that are based in over 30 different countries. The proposed improvements will further position the MSC to become a global leader in applying genomics techniques to solve critically important problems in coastal ecosystems. These improvements will continue to support the research and training activities of a broad user community beyond the faculty and students at the MSC, including visiting researchers, school groups, and outreach programs. The Core Genomics Facility will maintain a website with up-to-date protocols for all methods being performed at the Facility and a link for all open-access data generated by the Facility. The decreasing cost of high throughput sequencing has revolutionized the field of ecological and evolutionary genomics. Northeastern University's Marine Science Center is uniquely positioned to apply these tools to advance knowledge on key aspects of marine science. Our success on this front will be enhanced with key equipment upgrades. The proposed improvements will support a diverse array and significant amount of current and future NSF-funded research including comparative genomics, seascape genomics, ecology, evolutionary genomics, ocean acidification, epigenomics, and microbiology. The new instruments will improve this externally funded research conducted at the MSC by significantly expanding analytical capabilities through the acquisition of several pieces of equipment to form a Core Genomics Facility for the Marine Science Center. This includes a Covaris ultrasonicator for DNA fragmentation, a SpeedVac vacuum concentrator to concentrate nucleic acids, a fluorescent plate reader for high throughput nucleic acid quantification and microbial cell culture work, a Nanodrop for single sample nucleic acid quantification, a new transilluminator and gel documentation system for gel imaging, and a large autoclave to facilitate proper sterilization of materials. These new instruments will advance research and training beyond current capacity, enabling new methods for ascertainment, and increase the quality and the amount of data that can be collected. This grant will broaden the accessibility of MSC research protocols and research products through online protocols and open access to data generated by the facility.