To stimulate Genomics research, Illumina has created, and successfully run, a core lab program in many countries around the world. The Centre for Proteomic & Genomic Research (CPGR), and Whitehead Scientific, distributor for Illumina in South Africa, are bringing the program to South Africa.
The core lab program allows researchers to compete for reagents and consumables valued at up to USD 10,000, provided by Illumina, in support of their research endeavors by submitting project information online. An online questionnaire is hosted by Illumina and has been designed to gather basic information about projects and the researchers behind them. Information will be assessed, and a winner selected, by the CPGR.
Projects should be compatible with one of the following Illumina platforms: iScan, NextSeq500, MiSeq, or MiniSeq.
The CPGR will support projects as follows: (i) the winning project will not be charged a service fee, in addition to receiving reagents and consumables valued up to USD 10k; (ii) the second and third ranked projects will be offered a 25% and 15% discount (off the total project fee), respectively.
Conditions for participation are as follows: researchers must be based in and projects conducted in South Africa, and carried out at the CPGR; projects can make use of the prize money as a sole or augmentative funding of reagents and consumables; ready-to-go projects will be given preference; projects submitted by PDI researchers will be given preference.
Proposals should be submitted via easy online form
Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5XN622N
Important dates
- Application deadline: 30 September 2018
- Winner announcement: 15 October 2018
Contact persons
- Desiree Petersen (desiree.petersen@cpgr.org.za)
- Linda De Waal (linda.dewaal@cpgr.org.za)
About CPGR
The CPGR is a non-profit company located in Cape Town, South Africa, based on an initiative by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and financially supported by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). The CPGR combines state-of-the-art information-rich genomic and proteomic (‘omics’) technologies with bio-computational pipelines to render services and support projects in the life science and biomedical arena in (South) Africa, all run in an ISO 9001:2015 certified and ISO 17025 compliant quality management system.
Among others, the CPGR has recently launched an accelerator program to stimulate the creation of South African start-ups based on ‘omics’ technologies and set up Artisan Biomed to develop and implement Precision Medicine solutions in (South) Africa. The organization uses the open-source Baobab LIMS for sample and data tracking; and, it has recently implemented a DRAGEN platform to enhance the development and execution of high-speed/high-volume NGS data-sets. CPGR also hosts DIPLOMICS, a large infrastructure program initiated by the DST. In December 2017, CPGR entered into a partnership with the Sunflower Fund to enhance stem cell donor typing in Africa.
In support of Genomics capacity development in Africa, CPGR has launched an iScan system for high-end genotyping studies in early 2018. In April 2018, CPGR announced a new partnership to form a bespoke African biotech incubator, OneBio.
The Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR) is one of Africa’s first fully integrated ‘omics’ service providers, built to leapfrog South Africa’s ability to conduct information-rich biomedical research onto a globally competitive level. Amongst others, the organization offers the following ‘omics’ capacity: Next-Generation Sequencing: NextSeq500 (1x), MiSeq (1x), MiniSeq (1x), IonTorrent PGM (2x), IonProton (1x), for sequencing projects; Microarrays: Affymetrix GS 3000 (1x) and Affymetrix GeneTitan (1x) for genotyping and gene-expression analysis, Illumina iScan (1x) for high throughput genotypiong; Mass spectrometry: Thermo Q Exactive, Waters Xevo TQS triple quadrupole, SCIEX API4000 triple quadrupole and ABI 4800 MALDI-ToF/ToF for MS-Proteomics; High-throughput PCR: QuantStudio 12K Flex Real-Time PCR System, QuantStudio 3D Digital PCR System, and ABI 7900 for qRT-PCR and genotyping applications; Automated DNA/RNA QC, library handling and sample processing; dedicated IT infrastructure and bioinformatic applications for data analysis and interpretation.
Information about the CPGR can be obtained at www.cpgr.org.za and www.cpgr.org.za/blogspot.
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