NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE - CANCER.GOV

Contact Information


Primary Contact

Liz Conner, Ph.D.
Facility Head

Location

Building 41, Room D310
41 Medlars Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892

Additional Contacts

Desiree Tillo, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Consultant
Madeline Wong, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Qin Wei, Ph.D.
Staff

Overview

The CCR Genomics Core is located in Building 41 on the NIH Bethesda campus. The primary goal of the Core is to provide investigators from CCR/NCI and other NIH Institutes access to genomic technologies and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) with rapid turnaround on smaller-scale projects or projects that are not ready for production. The Core is unique in granting user-accessible instrumentation. Additional resources include training, consultation services, bioinformatics support, and secure data delivery/management. We also provide DNA and RNA quality control (QC) services. The facility operates on a cost-recovery model for project-based expenses.

Established Technologies and Applications

Next-Generation Sequencing

Illumina iSeq, MiSeq, NextSeq 550, and NextSeq 2000

  • Cancer panel sequencing
  • Microbiome sequencing (16S rRNA)
  • T-Cell and B-Cell receptor sequencing
  • RNAseq
  • Amplicon sequencing

Discuss your experimental design with the Core experts and a group of CCR bioinformaticians. Library preparation may be performed by the Core, or by individual users.

Nanopore Sequencing

Oxford Nanopore MinION (MinIT and MK1C instruments) and P2 Long-read sequencing of both DNA and RNA

Sanger Sequencing

2-3500xL Applied Genetic Analyzers

  • Rapid and accurate sequencing of DNA samples
  • Expertise in the use of software for sequencing data
  • Troubleshooting sequencing reactions

Samples are accepted in which sequencing reactions are completed by the user, as well as samples in which the sequencing reactions and clean-up are performed by the core.

Analytical & Preparative Electrophoresis

Sage Science PippinHT- high-throughput sizing

Agilent 4200 & 4150 Tapestation – QC platform

RIN values

Droplet Digital PCR

Bio-Rad QX 200 AutoDG ddPCR System

  • Absolute quantification of target DNA, including measurements of viral loads and microbial quantification
  • Detection of copy number variations and rare mutations in wild type backgrounds
  • Absolute quantification of mRNA and miRNA, especially in low species
  • Quantification of NSG libraries

The system includes an Automated Droplet Generator (ADG) that generates 20,000 droplets from one ddPCR reaction containing your target or background DNA. Hydrolysis probes (Taqman) or EvaGreen chemistry can be used on the system. After PCR the samples are transferred to a QX 200 Droplet Reader where individual droplet intensities are read. Contact Core staff to schedule project consultation, training, and access to instrumentation.

NanoString nCounter MAX Analysis System
  • Pathway expression profiling
  • miRNA profiling
  • Validation of complex gene expression signatures
  • Validation of RNA-Seq and array data CNV analysis
  • Performed directly on total RNA (no RT, IVT, and PCR) or lysates from a wide variety of sample types including (cells, tissues, FFPE, and blood).

The assays are designed to measure up to 800 targets in a single reaction. The platform processes 12 samples simultaneously.

Digital Spatial Profiling of RNA and Proteins

NanoString GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling (GeoMx DSP) offered in collaboration with the Collaborative Protein Technologies Resource (CPTR)

  • FFPE or fresh frozen tissue Profiling data for 100s of validated proteins
  • Cancer Transcriptome Atlas (CTA) > 1,800 genes
  • Whole Transcriptome Atlas (WTA) > 18,000 genes

The Core has a dedicated bioinformatic consultant who advises customers on experimental design, interpretation of QC data and directs users to existing bioinformatic tools and other available bioinformatic entities.

Major Instrumentation

Illumina iSeq 100, MiSeq, NextSeq 550, NextSeq 2000

Oxford Nanopore MinION and P2 Solo

Bio-Rad QX200 ddPCR

NanoString nCounter Analysis System

NanoString GeoMX DSP

Applied Biosystems 3500XL and 3730XL Genetic Analyzer

Agilent TapeStation (4200 & 4150)  and Pippin HT

User Guidelines

Investigators should contact the core manager to inquire about accessing the technologies. To register to use the instrumentation, go to iLab https://nci.corefacilities.org/account/login and register as a member under Principle Investigator. If your PI is not listed in the drop-down menu, contact the Core Manager, Liz Conner (connerl@nih.gov). To contact all staff members, please email ncilecdnacore@mail.nih.gov. Non-NCI users will charged an overhead charge to cover the cost of labor and maintenance service agreements starting in FY2024.

Keywords

ABI 3500 Genetic AnalyzersAgilent TapeStationAgilent tapestationBio-Rad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR SystemBio-Rad droplet digital PCRCopy number VariationDNA SequencingFFPEGene ExpressionGeoMx DSPIllumina MiSeqMolecular karyotypingMultiplex Tissue ImagingNGSNanoStringNanostring ncounterNext Gen SequencingNextSeq 2000QC of RNAQX200Quality controlRNA-seqSage science pippinHTSpatial Transcriptomicsautomated droplet generatorbacterial genome sequencingbloodcancer panelcell morphologycellsdigital gene expressionGenetics and Genomicsgene mappergenome sequencinghigh throughput sequencinglow abundancemRNA quantificationmiRNA quantificationmiRNA quantitationmultiplexed profilingnCounter probe setsnci-corencounternext generation sequencingquantificationrare mutationsresequencingsample QCspatial profilinglong read sequencingnanopore sequencingSanger sequencingTotal RNA Sequencingsingle cell sequencingmRNA library prep