OSN Tour of the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre

What does it take to sequence a genome in 2018? Please join OSN for this unique behind the scenes tour of BC Cancer's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre. We have limited space of 8 people only so please RSVP early and if you find you can’t make it please RSVP no to free up your space for then next person in the waitlist. Please do arrive on time as the tour will not wait.

BC Cancer's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (www.bcgsc.ca) is one of Canada's largest genome sequencing facilities, with a capacity of about 9000 whole genomes per year. The primary focus is cancer research but projects include a range of human health issues and research in other species. Particularly exciting at this time is the emerging ability to inexpensively assemble "de novo" genomes of previously un-sequenced species using both short and long sequence reads, the from, respectively, Illumina sequencers and platforms like the Oxford Nanopore MinION. The BCGSC also performs clinical cancer samples sequencing, and was one of the first sites globally where clinical assays based on next generation sequencing were funded by a public health system. In addition to being certified by the College of American Pathologists for this clinical work, the BCGSC has just obtained ISO 27002 certification for data management. Key operational expertise includes in house IT with currently ~25,000 hyperthreaded cores and 14 petabytes of storage, as well as Quality Systems and Engineering, the latter supporting a high degree of automation for sample preparation as well as developing new automation systems for unique projects.

Photo by Daniil Kuželev on Unsplash