About
ORC provides integrated genomics services to its various partners including the USask Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, USask College of Agriculture and Bioresources and Prairie Diagnostic Services.
In addition, the resource centre serves as a training hub for highly qualified personnel. ORC also offers consultation services — from study design to data analysis — that are tailored to the needs of veterinary, animal agriculture and basic research communities.
ORC is financially supported through:
- IntegrOmes (Integrated Omics for Sustainable Animal Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship), a Canada Foundation for Innovation grant
- Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM)
ORC provides support for research projects exploring a range of topics:
- livestock productivity
- genetic diversity
- disease investigation
- antimicrobial resistance and surveillance
- microbiomes
ORC also develops diagnostic tools and provides omics services for producers that help to enhance the productivity and sustainability of commercial livestock for meat quality, animal health and food safety.
The ORC laboratories, which will host a mixture of staff, equipment users and trainees, are comprised of three zones.
- Sample Receiving and Storage Facility, located in WCVM C616
- Sample Processing Suite, located in WCVM 2259
- Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Laboratory, located in WCVM 2207
Services
- Equipment usage (only for selected equipment, bookable for a user fee)
- Training of highly qualified personnel (limited, first-come-first-serve basis depending on service schedule)
- Project consultation (cost-free)
- Nucleic acid extraction from crude samples, quantification and quality control (QC)
- Quality control workup on DNA and RNA samples
- Sample normalization and aliquoting
- NGS library preparation, library quality control and sequencing for:
- microbiome sequencing studies (metagenome and marker-gene sequencing)
- high-throughput low-pass whole genome sequencing (lpWGS) for marker-assisted selection studies
- whole genome sequencing (WGS) for genome assemblies
- sequencing-based transcriptome analysis (RNA-Seq)
- sequencing-based profiling of genome methylation
- stowaway sequencing runs in small pilot projects
- Primary NGS data analysis (such as demultiplexing, bases2fastq, sample quality control and optionally adapter trimming)
- Guidance for do-it-yourself secondary NGS data analysis (see free consultation offer)
- standard operating procedure (SOP) development (on a case-by-case basis)
Capacities
The ORC will provide the latest next-generation sequencing high-end benchtop platform from Element Biosciences. This powerful tool will enable researchers to pursue a wide range of sequencing projects for any budget and scope.
All systems, workstations and storage locations at ORC are integrated into a laboratory information system (LIMS) to ensure effective management of samples, projects and associated information or workflows.
Researchers can submit RNA and DNA samples as well as crude samples and libraries using the ORC customer portal. Each sample will be barcoded and tracked through the workflow to ensure quality, security and traceability of samples.
Successful sequencing is dependent not only on the quality of submitted DNA or RNA but also on the quality of the library created and in the selection of the appropriate library kit. Our team will guide you through the selection process during the project consultation to ensure the highest NGS library quality and maximal data output of your flow cell.
Alternatively, researchers can submit their own libraries for full quality control workup and use our sequencing-only service.
Laboratory equipment includes:
- sequencers
- liquid handlers
- quantitative PCR instruments
- nucleic extraction robot
- high-throughput QC devices
- barcode reader/printer workstations and others, of which a selection is bookable under a user fee model through the LIMS
Pricing
ORC will offer competitive pricing for in-house, on-campus and off-campus projects along with free expert NGS consultation to guide researchers on using ORC capacities that best fit their research goals.
Pricing details will be announced in spring 2025.
Launch date
A soft launch for ORC's services is scheduled in spring 2025, in conjunction with information sessions and a comprehensive website.
The ORC website, which will serve as a resource for customers and users, will include more information about services, pricing, terms of use, sample submission guidelines, standard operating procedures, software and platforms for secondary data analysis.
Contact Us
If you have questions or suggestions about the Omics Resource Centre, please contact:
Dr. Martin Mau
Genomics Laboratory Manager
orc@usask.ca