Sequencing Platforms

Illumina MiSeq™-System

The Illumina Miseq System is used for targeted amplicon sequencing and small genome sequencing, as well as metagenomics. The MiSeq reagents allow an output of up to 15 GB with 25 million sequencing reads and read lengths of 2 × 300 bp (Illumina MiSeq).

The Illumina MiSeq system is mainly used in laboratory 2.02, building 4.1 for amplicon sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes and ITS. Nicole Steinbach (nicole.steinbach@ufz.de; Department AME) and Stephan Schreiber (stephan.schreiber@ufz.de; Department BIOINF) are responsible for the equipment. Appointments for sequencing slots can be booked with the instrument managers. They are also available to answer questions about library preparation, but there is no sample preparation service for the MiSeq system; this is done by each user themselves or can be done via collaborations.

MinION™ (Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

The MinION is a powerful, portable sequencer that provides cost-effective, real-time access to gigabases of long-read sequencing data. The MinION is so powerful that it can deliver up to 30 GB of data. It can be used for both DNA and RNA sequencing. Possible applications include whole genomes/exomes sequencing, metagenomics, targeted sequencing of amplicons, transcriptome sequencing (cDNA, RNA) and multiplexing for smaller samples.

Nanopore sequencing is mainly carried out in laboratory 2.02, building 4.1. Dr. Nawras Ghanem (nawras.ghanem@ufz.de) is responsible for the MinIon sequencer.