Cancer research today requires sophisticated equipment for gene sequencing, cell sorting and characterization, bioimaging, microscopy, data collection and other procedures. Revenue from Pelotonia has helped bring nearly $2 million worth of advanced technology to the OSUCCC – James in the form of these powerful instruments.
BY BOB HECKER
Special BD FacsAria analytical cytometer
This flow cytometer, the fourth and most sophisticated cytometer now in use by scientists at the OSUCCC – James, uses four lasers, rather than two or three, and multiple detectors for high-speed sorting and advanced analysis of up to 13 cellular parameters. Efficient flow cytometry is fundamental to advanced cancer research, says Jeffrey Chalmers, PhD, director of the Analytical Cytometry Shared Resource. “The more we can learn about cells, the more we can understand cancer and how to treat it. This instrument serves scientists studying all forms of cancer – solid tumors and hematologic malignancies – so everyone benefits.”
Hi-Seq 2000 Sequencing System
“This instrument lowers the accessibility bar and increases user-friendliness for global genomic and epigenomic analyses in terms of cost, data output quantity and quality, and the flexibility for running trial samples alongside actual samples in a single analysis,” says Pearlly Yan, PhD, technical director of the OSUCCC-Illumina Core. Since its launch in 2010, the HiSeq 2000 has undergone major changes, including larger flow cells and new image analysis software to bring sequencing output to 1.6 billion (200 million reads per lane, eight lanes per flow cell) passed filter reads. “The new sequencing chemistry (version 3) significantly improves coverage uniformity by reducing density-dependent GC bias and by increasing cluster density, thereby resulting in the lowest number of gaps and minimal risk of missing variants in sequencing data,” Yan says.
The SOLiD™ System
Pelotonia money has supported the purchase of two new SOLiD 5500xl high-throughput analyzers that represent a significant upgrade to Ohio State’s next-generation gene-sequencing platform. In addition, the system’s older SOLiD 4 instrument has been retained for transition projects and to help manage overflow. “The new instruments are an improvement in terms of higher throughput, but more importantly they reduce the cost of next-generation genomics and make it accessible to more researchers,” says Jeff Palatini, technical director of the OSUCCC – James Microarray Shared Resource. “These instruments are unrivaled in their accuracy, and they have the flexibility and scalability to run different types of experiments at the same time. This means faster time to results, from lab bench to bedside.”