MRI: Acquisition of an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 to Support High-Throughput Sequencing Collaborative Research and Integrated Training

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An award is made to The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) to acquire an Illumina NovaSeq sequencer, which will be broadly accessible to on-campus and external researchers through the Genomics Core within the Center for Environmental Biotechnology. The new instrumentation will enable UTK researchers to attain a level of competency more attuned to the breadth of research across the institution’s portfolio of microbial, plant, human, and animal nucleic acid sequencing needs. The expanded Genomics Core will engage a broader cohort of researchers to obtain sequence data, provide faculty new means of illustration of the genes-to-ecosystem concept, and excite more young minds about discovery-driven scientific research and the exploration of the rules of life. A robust network of outreach activities that align with NSF’s STEM educational mission will be strategically integrated into new training and learning opportunities involving the NovaSeq. The newly enabled research will address fundamental research questions that impact the applied sciences and engineering disciplines, and several projects will be of considerable public interest. The NovaSeq sequencing instrument bestows the ability to perform demanding nucleic acid sequencing projects allowing researchers to assess the entire genetic makeup of a single organism (e.g., a bacterium, a fungus, or an animal), or an assembly of different microorganisms in a specific habitat (i.e., a microbiome). DNA sequencing will reveal microbial taxonomy and functional potential, and metatranscriptome sequence data will shed light on the actual activities that result in observable characteristics (i.e., organismal phenotypes). Research projects will link microbiome sequence information with processes relevant to environmental, animal, and human health. Sequence-enabled research projects will advance understanding of microbes that detoxify pollutants, control greenhouse gas emission, and promote carbon dioxide sequestration in (agricultural) soils; generate new opportunities for ecologically informed control of biocorrosion and biofouling; allow integrated cross-kingdom analyses to reveal host-microbiome interactions and genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that determine phenotypes; compare lives of contemporary and ancient peoples; explore microbiomes in understudied environments, such as the deep subsurface; and provide new insights into viral ecology and emerging viral diseases (i.e., zoonoses).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.