Joint Genome Institute Goes Into High Gear with the Purchase of 24 MegaBACE DNA Sequencers
The US Department of Energy's (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JCI) has acquired 24 MegaBACE DNA sequencers from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech (Uppsala, Sweeden), which will triple its capacity to decode human DNA. Funding permitting, the department plans additional purchases of machines that could increase the institute's capacity by another factor of two or more.
"As the founder of the Human Genome Project and owner of a new, state-of-the-art DNA sequencing facility, the Department of Energy is driving cutting-edge technology as it works with its international partners to decode the complete human genome, a resource that will revolutionize biology and health care,'' said Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. JCI's sequencing operation is housed in its Production Sequencing Facility, located in Walnut Creek, CA, which was dedicated by Secretary Bill Richardson on April 19.
MegaBACE 1000 represents a new generation of high-throughput DNA sequencers, able to sequence DNA up to three times faster than previously available methods. Launched last year by Molecular Dynamics (Sunnyvale, CA), a division of AP Biotech, the MegaBACE 1000 was the first to use multiple-capillaries, rather than flat-bed gels to read DNA sequences, technology that was largely developed with funding from the DOE human genome program, and subsequently licensed to AP Biotech. Located at major commercial and academic centers worldwide, a single MegaBACE instrument can sequence up to 600,000 bases per day. Together with the JCI's current instruments, the new machines bring the facility's total sequencing capacity to more than 14 million raw bases per day.
"Our work with these sequencers, thus far, leads us to be very optimistic about their performance and about the support AP Biotech is providing," said JGI director Elbert Branscomb. "The increase in productivity they can provide will be critical in allowing us to meet our very accelerated sequencing goals."
The institute's sequencing efforts are targeting human chromosomes 5, 16, and 19, three of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes. These chromosomes contain approximately 300 million base pairs of DNA, or 10% of the entire human genome, including genes known to be involved in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and asthma. Over 200 researchers will work at the Production Sequencing Facility in three shifts around the clock to sequence its part of the human genome. The results will continue to be published daily, allowing the scientific community free and immediate access to the data.
The Joint Genome Institute, established by the DOE in 1997, is a consortium of the Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The institute is one of the five largest publicly funded human genome sequencing centers in the world and a key contributor to the global public effort to sequence the draft human genome within the next 10 months.
Begun in 1986, DOE's Human Genome Project's ultimate goal is to discover the more than 50,000 human genes and enable biologists to study them in detail. DOE's role in the project is historical, originating from a congressional mandate to its predecessor agencies (the Atomic Energy Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration) to study the genetic and health effects of radiation and chemical by-products of energy production. From this work grew the belief that the study of DNA directly would provide the best way to learn about these effects.
Currently, DOE and the National Institutes of Health jointly manage the US Human Genome Project, which is part of an international effort to sequence the human genome.
Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, a joint venture between Nycomed Amersham plc and Pharmacia UpJohn Inc., is an international biotechnology company.
For more information: Jeff Sherwood, US Department of Energy, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585. Tel: 202-586-5806.