Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of an Illumina NextSeq 2000 Sequencing Instrument

该奖项支持Illumina NexSeq 2000下一代测序系统的收购，该系统将被安置在波士顿大学的设计，自动化，制造和过程（DAMP）实验室。DAMP实验室是一个自动化生物实验室，由八个液体处理机器人组成，可以在微小的威尔斯液体中同时进行数千项实验。这些机器人在将液体从一个地方转移到另一个地方方面比人类做得更好、更快。DAMP实验室在大流行期间进行了数千次COVID测试，现在其仪器被用于创建和研究新的分子工具。Illumina测序仪将帮助研究人员研究这些新分子工具的基因组序列。序列中的小变化可能导致性能的大变化。下一代测序具有无与伦比的能力，可以看到哪些变化增强或减弱功能。这种新仪器将有助于设计更好的药物和新的诊断和生物传感器。波士顿大学的DAMP实验室是一个核心设施，为波士顿地区的学术和工业提供服务，并有可能通过我们完全基于云的自动化实验室系统为全国各地的研究人员提供服务。获得下一代测序技术将在生物技术和生物工程的融合领域开启新的见解。Illumina NexSeq 2000的加入将影响BU的三个主要研究领域：类器官分析，环境和水监测以及生物传感和诊断。在大流行期间，波士顿大学建立了一个自动化分子生物学实验室，现在是DAMP实验室的一部分，专注于加速合成生物学研究。将该仪器添加到现有的自动化套件中将大大增加我们可以为用户提供的服务。这个独特的基于云的实验室已经为那些没有内部资源或专业知识的实验室和研究人员提供了许多复杂的湿生物协议-或者根本没有湿实验室。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports the acquisition of an Illumina NexSeq 2000 next generation sequencing system to be housed at the Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Process (DAMP) Laboratory at Boston University. The DAMP Lab is an automated biology laboratory comprised of eight liquid handling robots that can run thousands of experiments at a time in tiny wells of liquid. These robots do a much better and faster job of transferring liquids from place to place than humans can. The DAMP Lab performed thousands of COVID tests during the pandemic, and now its instruments are used to create and study new molecular tools. The Illumina sequencer will help researchers study the genomic sequences of these new molecular tools. Small changes in the sequence can lead to big changes in performance. Next generation sequencing has an unparalleled ability to see which changes enhance or diminish function. This new instrument will help support the design of better drugs and new diagnostics and biosensors. The DAMP Lab at Boston University is a Core Facility that serves BU, Boston area academics and industry, and has the potential to serve researchers across the nation through our completely cloud based automated laboratory system. Access to next generation sequencing technology will unlock new insights across the convergent areas of biotechnology and bioengineering. Addition of the Illumina NexSeq 2000 will impact three major areas of research at BU: Organoid Profiling, Environmental and Water Monitoring, and Biosensing and Diagnostics. Over the pandemic, Boston University built an automated molecular biology laboratory, now part of the DAMP Lab, that is focused on accelerating synthetic biology research. Addition of this instrument to the existing suite of automation will dramatically increase the services we can offer users. This unique cloud-based laboratory has already made many sophisticated wet biological protocols accessible to laboratories and researchers who don’t have the in-house resources or expertise to perform them – or who might not have a wet laboratory at all. Addition of this instrument will open next generation sequencing (NGS) to these same groups.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.