History of the DNA Resource Core
DNA Sequencing Facility
The DNA Resources Core started in the spring of 1999 as a direct result of the planning processes for the DF/HCC and was originally called the High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Core. The Executive Planning Committee recognized a growing need in the community for DNA sequencing at a cost that was affordable for academic research labs. The Core became one of the first facilities in the world to obtain an ABI 3700 automated capillary sequencing instrument and began processing samples by the fall of 1999. The Core was fully operational by the spring of 2000 and received funding from the DF/HCC grant in July of that year. In 2001, the Core obtained a second ABI 3700 automated sequencing instrument, enabling the Core to both increase capacity and limit down-time that had occurred during equipment maintenance and repair. In 2006, the Core retired its ABI 3700 instruments and obtained two ABI 3730xl's, which are operating near capacity now.
Over the past eight years, the Core has continued to grow and support the DF/HCC and Harvard community with attention to user-friendly service and quality control, and the Core currently provides outstanding DNA sequencing services at the lowest cost for a DNA sequencing center in the Boston area (with discounts for DF/HCC Members). Currently, the Core sequences close to 200,000 samples per year and has serviced over 5000 users in 530 different laboratories both within the DF/HCC community and at other institutions, including MIT and the Whitehead Institute.
PlasmID Repository
In spring 2004, plasmid repository services were added to the DNA Resource Core to reduce the burden on individual labs to store, maintain and distribute plasmid clones and supporting information. To store these plasmids HIP purchased an automated sample retrieval system. This unique robotic system allows storage of 160,000 clones at 80°C in specialized plates that contain 96 individual, 2D-barcoded tubes. The associated software tracks specific clones and their barcodes within the system and manages a picking unit that can retrieve any desired set of clones from their specific plates. By managing the clones in individual tubes instead of standard 96-well plates, this avoids the need to thaw an entire 96-well plate in order to retrieve a single clone. The Core is the only academic center worldwide to employ this state-of-the-art equipment.
The PlasmID repository currently contains over 87,000 plasmids, including collections produced by HIP, the Human ORFeome Consortium, the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI), as well as plasmids deposited by individual researchers. HIP has also recently acquired the The RNAi Collection (TRC), which contains over 150,000 shRNAs, that will soon be distributed to researchers at Harvard University and its affiliates. Besides storage of these plasmids in a state of the art automated freezer system, we also maintain a database containing detailed annotation of each plasmid that can be accessed by users through our website. In 2007, the PlasmID repository filled 500 requests for over 4,800 plasmids from researchers around the world. Most recently, the ability to purchase plasmids online using a credit card has been added to our services, a feature we hope to add for the sequencing services in the near future.
In 2006, the PlasmID repository was selected to become the Protein Structure Initiative’s Materials Repository (PSI-MR) with the mission of providing centralized storage, maintenance and distribution of plasmid clones produced by PSI researchers. PSI is a NIGMS program directed at high throughput structural biology and is composed of 14 current and 3 former large scale structural genomics centers that have produced over 100,000 plasmids to be deposited and distributed by the MR. Our goal is to collect these plasmids, fully sequence validate them and distribute them worldwide. We are currently processing over 20,000 PSI plasmids and already have over 6,500 PSI plasmids and their associated data available on PlasmID.
