A revolution has occurred in biomedicine in which genomics information is enabling faster and more accuratediagnoses and precise tailoring of therapeutics to patients. This revolution was triggered by developments inspace age miniaturization of devices to enable high throughput, chemistries and spectroscopic advances forlabeling, and use of computer technologies to advance chip-based products and parallel data processing andcommunications to enable personalized computing. This revolution is technology-driven. The first mission ofthe Genomics High Throughput Facility (GHTF) as a shared resource of the Chao Family ComprehensiveCancer Research Center (CFCCC) is to act as a conduit to introduce emerging genomics technologies so thatthey can be effectively accessed by the broadest spectrum of researchers. Investment in this shared resourceby the CFCCC has been leveraged by nationally-funded instrument grants and campus cost-sharing. Theseinvestments have made Affymetrix microarrays, Illumina HiSeq next generation sequencing and PacBio thirdgeneration sequencing available to cancer researchers within one or two years of introduction to theworkspace--long before they were commercially available for experimentally-tailored formats. Thesetechnologies enabled state-of-the-art research which has translated in a very short time into identification ofunexpected roles for transcription factors, alternative splicing and polyadenylation by Cancer Centerresearchers. Introduction of the technologies at the campus level has the additional value of stimulatingcollaborations and feedback into further interdisciplinary development of these technologies. The secondmission of the GHTF is to train a new generation of researchers in the analysis of genomics data. In the currentfunding period, DNA sequencing analysis pipelines for HiSeq and PacBio sequencing were established. ABioinformatics Consulting Service was implemented to insure impact of these data on cancer research. Keyfuture development priorities for CFCC researchers by the GHTF are: 1) development of a single-cell analysisplatform and 2) expansion of bioinformatics training and analysis. Tumor populations are heterogeneouscollections of cells and that to study them effectively requires the ability to discriminate among them. GHTF willintroduce a microfluidic system for preparation of sequencing libraries from individual cells. The ability toanalyze large streams of data is arguably now the limiting technology for application of genomics to cancerresearch. We made substantial progress in this area in the current funding period and now will expand theseefforts with longer and more specialized workshops tailored to beginning and advanced applications, additionalstaff time for bioinformatics, and access to cancer-related pathway databases.
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