ARK-Genomics recognized as BBSRC national capability

The ARK-Genomics centre for comparative and functional genomics, a high-throughput genomics laboratory based at the Roslin institute, was recently announced as a BBSRC National Capability by the UK Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts. 

ARK-Genomics is an established facility that has been providing the latest genomics tools to collaborators throughout the world for over 10 years. The laboratory provides access to Illumina/Solexa next-generation sequencing, Illumina and Affymetrix SNP genotyping arrays, all commercial microarray platforms, Sanger/ABI sequencing and bioinformatics.  

The impact of genomics on the biosciences cannot be overestimated, and tools such as next-generation sequencing allow researchers to investigate the full genome sequence of every organism and count the abundance of every gene across multiple samples. High-density SNP arrays allow researchers to look at the variation of several-hundred thousand positions across 1000s of samples cheaply and quickly, investigating traits such weight, height and disease-resistance.

Originally funded by the BBSRC “Investigating gene function” initiative, the facility has gone on to attract funding from a variety of sources, with collaborators in over 40 countries worldwide and on every continent. The lab focuses on livestock genomics, although the facilities are available to anyone to use. As a non-profit academic laboratory, the preferred model is collaboration, with researchers simply paying the lowest possible charge for preparing samples, running the machines and analyzing the data. 

The recent announcement by BBSRC and David Willetts is an important recognition of a very successful facility, and guarantees funding for the laboratory for a further 3 years.