The Ion Torrent™ PGM™ sequencing facility was established in 2012 to provide life science researchers at the University greater access to small scale next generation DNA sequencing. This increased the turn-around time for data generation and project completion, and also enabled more affordable amplicon sequencing projects on the proven Ion Torrent™ Ampliseq™ platform. Projects to date include the sequencing of bacterial, fungal and viral genomes, human cancer genotyping, fosmid library clone sequencing and meta-genomic identification. To optimise throughput and cost efficiency, multiple DNA samples can be individually bar-coded and sequenced during the same reaction.

Users from the faculties of Health Sciences, Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Science have made use of the facility services, with several publications resulting from the research. In addition to the three high ranking spots, the facility has also won five weekly and three monthly prizes for the quality and quantity of data produced.

The facility is co-managed by Renate Zipfel (Department of Genetics) and Nicky Olivier (Department of Plant Science), while Dr Elritha van Zyl and Busi Zondi are the technicians responsible for library preparations and sequencing.

For queries on sequencing projects please send an email to Renate ([email protected]) or Nicky ([email protected]).