** IMPORTANT NOTICE: effective immediately (August 1, 2010) the CBR DNA Sequencing Facility is closed for business. ** The University of Victoria has permanently closed the DNA Sequencing Facility. If you have any questions about the closure, please call 250-472-4067 to speak with Marjorie, the Centre's Administrative Assistant. If you are a former client with a technical question about past work, you may contact me via the e-mail button in the main menu. I have left the Useful Data, Online Tools, and Links pages active for everyone's convenience. A big THANK YOU to all of our customers!!! My technicians, my students, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to support your research over these many years. − Roderick and staff.
** Please note: this site was developed for the use of the research community at the University of Victoria and its collaborators. Please feel free to explore our web site. We welcome any inquiries that you may have. **
The Centre for Biomedical Research (CBR) DNA Sequencing Facility had its humble beginnings in 1996 as a couple of techs and pair of Pharmacia® ALF automated sequencers in Dr. Barry Glickman's research lab, primarily sequencing lacI mutants that were generated as part of DNA damage-and-repair studies, looking at the effects of certain mutagens on Big Blue® transgenic rodents. We have evolved from a unit that serviced the sequencing needs of a single researcher into a full-service, non-profit, core sequencing facility based out of the CBR at the University of Victoria, providing a valuable service for researchers located at UVic, as well as collaborators off-campus. We can process both small and medium sized projects in a very timely manner, and can handle larger on-going projects as well. We are more than just a 'sample-in, data-out' sequencing facility. We strive to provide our customers with the highest level of service, and are continually adding services to our repertoire as we identify a need for them; please visit our Services page for a list of the things that we would be glad to do for you. At the heart of our facility are two automated LI-COR® 4200 IR2 Global NEN® DNA sequencers, which give some of the longest and highest quality reads of any sequencer on the market today. We routinely generate data that is 99+% accurate over the first 1000 bases and quite respectable over the next 200, but that is only (exactly) half the story: we sequence bi-directionally; each sequencing reaction is really two, one from either end of the target, which means it is possible for us to sequence ~2000 contiguous bases in a single reaction. We have also have a Beckman-CoulterTM CEQ 8000 8-capillary DNA sequencer, which is capable of sequencing 96 well plates, giving us the flexibility to run as few as 8 and as many as 96 samples in a single session. Unlike the LI-CORs, this machine performs single direction runs using dye-labelled terminating nucleotides (as opposed to dye-labelled primers), making it ideal for primer walking and quick identification work; your own custom primers can be used for the sequencing reactions. The Beckman is capable of achieving results that are 98+% accurate over the first 700 bases. Still small, still humble, but if you are looking for someone who cares about your precious DNA samples as much as you do, let us provide you with the service that you deserve. 
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