An award is made to Wright State University to establish a next generation sequencing (NGS) capability at Wright State University based on the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM). Ion Torrent PGM Sequencer is a third-generation sequencer that is based on the use of a massively parallel array of proprietary semiconductor sensors to perform direct real-time measurements of the hydrogen ions produced during DNA replication. The unique combination of fluidics, micromachining, and semiconductor technology enables the direct translation of genetic information (DNA) to digital information (DNA sequence), rapidly generating large quantities of high quality data at low costs. An unprecedented level of genetic information will thus be acquired in each experiment, which permits molecular studies in the areas of molecular ecology and genome investigation, where large amounts of nucleotide sequence data are required for a comprehensive analysis. Acquisition of this instrumentation will have an immediate and profound impact on the research at Wright State University. A variety of specific projects will be enabled through the establishment of the WSU NGS instrumentation that include microbial community structure determination, genome typing and sequencing, metagenomics, and gene expression.
The broader impacts of this project focus on the integration of research, education, and student diversity. Directly, the acquisition of the requested equipment will greatly enhance the research infrastructure at Wright State University and will improve the quality of scientific research carried out at the university. NGS instrumentation will allow faculty to pursue research programs not possible with current resources, and will foster collaborative and interdisciplinary research efforts among participating faculty in the biological and biocomputational fields. Establishment of the NGS instrumentation at Wright State will also help the university expand its current graduate and undergraduate research and training programs and will help attract talented students to the university to participate in cutting edge research. NGS techniques will be incorporated into several graduate and undergraduate courses that will allow students to learn about high-throughput sequencing and get hands-on experience with this technology. New WSU NGS instrumentation will similarly allow many of the students with disabilities and those underrepresented in science, who are interested in obtaining research experience, to be trained in state-of-the-art techniques through several existing programs. The instrumentation will promote science to minorities and other underrepresented groups, and will make these students more competitive on the job market.
