As a university core facility with an output of tens of thousands of samples per year, we work to meet the genomic needs of our collaborators for their research. We are unique in that we can work with our collaborators on every step of their genomic projects, often from the very beginning of study design, and sometimes this involves working with whatever samples have already been obtained, such as archival samples. Therefore, an important part of our role to meet this demand, is to optimise protocols for a range of sample types and qualities to achieve good results. Omega has been there for us, supporting in this regard from the very conception of our Nucleic Acid Extractions Stream within the core facility in 2019. The purchase of the Hamilton Nimbus with Kingfisher technology in 2019 allows us to carry out high-throughput extractions, with automation possible with every Mag-bind kit, and has resulted in an increase of over 500% in project requests for extractions.
We currently run a huge variety of protocols on our robot; DNA extraction from brain tissue, blood, saliva, cell pellets, semen, and RNA from Paxgene blood tubes and cell pellets, with the team currently implementing further protocols this year. This would not be possible without the support from the Omega team, always accommodating and understanding of our fast-paced timelines and commitment that we have to our collaborators. We are lucky to have a very good working relationship with our representatives and technical specialists whom we can rely on for both technical and automation advice, always feeling like a priority for them.
Due to our expansion of the facility from 5 to 30 staff members over the last few years and increasing demand for extractions projects, we recently purchased a MagBinder® Fit24 Nucleic Acid Purification System. This allows us to increase our throughput by 25%- 50% depending on protocol, in addition to use of the Nimbus, whilst having a smaller footprint and using far less plasticware, which is excellent and ensuring we keep to our Gold LEAF objectives.
I look forward to continuing to work together with Omega for future interesting projects, who for them it seems, nothing is ever impossible!
Leysa Forrest, Applications Specialist, Extractions Lead
UCL Genomics Core Facility UCL Genomics Core Facility
As a university core facility with an output of tens of thousands of samples per year, we work to meet the genomic needs of our collaborators for their research. We are unique in that we can work with our collaborators on every step of their genomic projects, often from the very beginning of study design, and sometimes this involves working with whatever samples have already been obtained, such as archival samples. Therefore, an important part of our role to meet this demand, is to optimise protocols for a range of sample types and qualities to achieve good results. Omega has been there for us, supporting in this regard from the very conception of our Nucleic Acid Extractions Stream within the core facility in 2019. The purchase of the Hamilton Nimbus with Kingfisher technology in 2019 allows us to carry out high-throughput extractions, with automation possible with every Mag-bind kit, and has resulted in an increase of over 500% in project requests for extractions.
We currently run a huge variety of protocols on our robot; DNA extraction from brain tissue, blood, saliva, cell pellets, semen, and RNA from Paxgene blood tubes and cell pellets, with the team currently implementing further protocols this year. This would not be possible without the support from the Omega team, always accommodating and understanding of our fast-paced timelines and commitment that we have to our collaborators. We are lucky to have a very good working relationship with our representatives and technical specialists whom we can rely on for both technical and automation advice, always feeling like a priority for them.
Due to our expansion of the facility from 5 to 30 staff members over the last few years and increasing demand for extractions projects, we recently purchased a MagBinder® Fit24 Nucleic Acid Purification System. This allows us to increase our throughput by 25%- 50% depending on protocol, in addition to use of the Nimbus, whilst having a smaller footprint and using far less plasticware, which is excellent and ensuring we keep to our Gold LEAF objectives.
I look forward to continuing to work together with Omega for future interesting projects, who for them it seems, nothing is ever impossible!
Leysa Forrest, Applications Specialist, Extractions Lead
UCL Genomics Core Facility