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

田纳西大学诺克斯维尔分校(UTK)获得了一台Illumina NovaSeq测序仪，该测序仪将通过环境生物技术中心的基因组核心广泛提供给校内和外部研究人员。新的仪器将使UTK的研究人员能够获得更适合该机构微生物、植物、人类和动物核酸测序需求组合的研究广度的能力水平。扩展后的基因组学核心将吸引更多的研究人员来获得序列数据，为教师提供解释基因到生态系统概念的新手段，并激发更多的年轻人对发现驱动的科学研究和对生命规则的探索的兴趣。与NSF的STEM教育使命相一致的强大的外联活动网络将被战略性地整合到涉及NovaSeq的新的培训和学习机会中。新启动的研究将解决影响应用科学和工程学科的基础研究问题，几个项目将引起公众的极大兴趣。NovaSeq测序仪具有执行要求苛刻的核酸测序项目的能力，使研究人员能够评估单个有机体(例如细菌、真菌或动物)或特定栖息地不同微生物(即微生物组)的整个基因构成。DNA测序将揭示微生物分类和功能潜力，而转录组序列数据将揭示导致可观察特征(即生物表型)的实际活动。研究项目将把微生物组序列信息与环境、动物和人类健康相关的过程联系起来。以序列为基础的研究项目将促进对微生物的理解，这些微生物可以解毒污染物，控制温室气体排放，促进(农业)土壤中的二氧化碳固定；为从生态角度控制生物腐蚀和生物污染创造新的机会；允许进行综合的跨领域分析，以揭示宿主-微生物群相互作用以及决定表型的遗传和表观遗传机制；比较现代人和古代人的生活；探索未被充分研究的环境中的微生物群，如深层地下；这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.