Next generation genome sequencer available at NMSU

New Mexico State University is the first minority institution in the nation to give researchers access to a genome sequencer to study microbes and non-microorganisms, said Marvin Bernstein, head of the biology department in the College of Arts and Sciences.

With the new GS FLX genome sequencer technology, researchers at NMSU can assist with cancer research, virology, bacteriology, development of bio-fuels, evolutionary biology and a variety of genealogy studies. The sequencer has the ability to sequence entire genomes, which is the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in an organism, including genes and inheritable traits.

The apparatus is one of the first designed with these capabilities and is provided by Roche Diagnostics – 454 Life Sciences. Professors of biology Peter Houde and Brook Milligan obtained a grant from the National Science Foundation for $1.25 million to put toward the $2 million project to install this “next generation” device on campus.

“In our grant proposal we suggested new, innovative uses for the genome sequencer,” Houde said, adding that this device will put NMSU on the same playing field as national genome centers. “It will put us at a competitive advantage over other universities for at least a few years.”

The device is capable of generating 400 million high quality bases per 10 hour instrument run. The instrumentation is so powerful, it can complete in one month what the Human Genome Project took five years to accomplish, Bernstein said. The Human Genome Project was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health to identify more than 20,000 genes in human DNA and enhance analysis of findings.