An important investment of one million euros to the CRS4 - Center for research, development and higher studies in Sardinia , which brings to the Science and Technology Park of Pula , the first in Italy, a latest generation Illumina NovaSeq X Plus genomic sequencer .

The funds are made available by Sardegna Ricerche on the basis of the development plan approved by the Regional Council.

The new cutting-edge technology present in the Illumina NovaSeq X Plus sequencer is able to guarantee better performances compared to the machines currently in use in other regions and will therefore allow the CRS4 to produce sequencing data of various types , human, animal and plant, united at greater speed and at reduced costs.

«With this further investment – explains Governor Solinas – the Research, Development and Higher Studies Center in Sardinia, CRS4, confirms its role in a key sector, that of high technology, research and innovation , fundamental for the development of society and for the promotion of economic growth".

«A new instrumentation – the words of Giacomo Cao , sole administrator of CRS4 – with the aim of increasing the accuracy, reliability and production capacity of sequencing data . The goal is to increase the quality standards of the final product; reduce costs for analyses; provide a complete service, from the production of data to the possibility of consulting the results of the analyzes via a web interface. The platform is directly interconnected to the HPC resources of the CRS4 computing centre, an infrastructure, unique in Italy, which allows the execution of large-scale sequencing projects. Thanks to the financial support of the Regional Council and the shareholder Sardegna Ricerche, the new instrumentation will allow the Center both to become an important reference point for genomics at a regional and perhaps national level and to support large-scale research projects financed, not only through the PNRR, to identify, for example, unknown genetic characteristics of the Sardinian population».

«Enhancing and maintaining the 'state of the art' infrastructure of the Science and Technology Park of Sardinia - adds Maria Assunta Serra , director general of Sardegna Ricerche - is one of the institutional aims of Sardegna Ricerche. In particular, the important expense that Sardegna Ricerche has incurred for the new sequencing platform allows CRS4 to confirm itself as a center of excellence at national and international level, and contributes to the construction of a regional research system capable of attracting skills and investments and to respond to health emergencies and new challenges".

The working group of the sequencing laboratory is made up of Lidia Leoni, Roberto Cusano, Jessica Milia and Rossano Atzeni .

(Unioneonline/vl)

© Riproduzione riservata