About us
The Imperial BRC Genomics Facility was formed through a merger of the "AHSC Clinical Genome Laboratory" and the "BRC Clinical Genome Informatics Facility", bringing together multidisciplinary expertise in genome sequencing and genomic data analysis. The facility is part of the Department of Medicine (Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism) and is funded by the NIHR through the Imperial Biomedical Research Centre as part of the Genetics and Genomics Theme lead by Professor Jorge Ferrer. Its mission is to support the use of genome technologies and information to translate new genomic discoveries into medical advances.
Range of services we provide:
- Experimental Design
- Samples/libraries QC
- Library Preparation
- Sequencing
- Data Analysis
Range of sequencing applications we support:
- Whole genome sequencing
- Whole exome sequencing
- DNA methylation sequencing
- DNA Target-based sequencing (e.g. ChIP-seq, etc)
- RNA Target-based sequencing (e.g. RIP-seq, etc)
- Transcriptome sequencing
- Small RNA (micro RNA) sequencing
- Pathogen Sequencing
- Single cell sequencing
The facility is equipped with the latest state-of the-art Illumina HiSeq 4000, Illumina Nextseq500 and Illumina MiSeq sequencing platforms that offer the highest throughput and fastest turnaround times across multiple applications. Different output of each platform makes the Facility flexible to meet various projects with various throughput needs. We also have access to dedicated high-performance computing resources at the Imperial High Performance Computing Service and Data Centre and maintain analysis pipelines for large-scale genomic datasets from a wide range of sequencing applications. These include variant detection, expression quantification, metagenomic profiling, and methylation analysis utilising cutting-edge bioinformatics algorithms and tools.
Furthermore, the Facility assists investigators with data interpretation. We provide tools and support for the prioritisation and reporting of genomic information for research and diagnostics. We train investigators in the interpretation of genomic information in a clinical context and maintain resources facilitating data interrogation, such as the Human Gene Mutation Database Professional and a local mirror of the UCSC Genome Browser.