Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Microorganisms are `microscopic chemical factories' that underpin planetary and human health. Even though the majority of biological diversity on our planet is held within single-celled microorganisms, our ability to study these microbes is challenged by our inability to culture a vast majority of them in the laboratory. Therefore, the study of microbial communities within in their in situ habitats, or microbiomes, has been bolstered by advances in genomic sequencing technologies over the past several decades. These high-throughput sequencing technologies enable the in situ study of microbiomes through the application of metagenomics, which involves massive sequencing of environmental DNA to reconstruct high-quality microbial genomes, and/or through high-throughput gene amplicon sequencing. Recent discoveries in microbiome science have empowered new theories related to human health, ocean nutrient cycling, and environmental pollution treatment and control. Despite such breakthroughs, conventional DNA sequencing technologies still have a key limitation in their allowable read length, which typically is only a few hundred base-pairs. These `short-reads' create challenges for high-quality microbial genome reconstruction and accurate taxonomic classification of genes in complex microbiomes, thus hindering our ability to measure microbial diversity and predict metabolic function and activity across ecosystems. On the other hand, new single-molecule DNA sequencing technologies are essentially unlimited in their allowable read length, and are driving a genomics revolution by dramatically improving assemblies and taxonomic classification of genes. Here, we are requesting funds to purchase a high-throughput single-molecule sequencing platform that will provide new capabilities to microbiome and genomics researchers at the University of British Columbia. This equipment will fulfill an urgent need, as there is currently no high-throughput single-molecule long-read sequencing platform openly available to researchers at the University of British Columbia. This equipment will directly benefit Canada by strengthening research competitiveness and impact in the fields of human health, agriculture, biogeosciences, and environmental biotechnology. The equipment will be hosted and maintained in a shared facility at the University of British Columbia, ensuring that it can be effectively and openly utilized by microbiome and genomics researchers spanning broad disciplines. Based on the current research activities by the team, and current usage of DNA sequencers at the shared-facility, we expect at least 60 HQP will benefit from training on this equipment annually. Overall, this equipment will ensure that researchers in British Columbia are leaders in genomics, and will provide HQP with marketable and cutting-edge experience in a transformative molecular biotechnology.