Genomics Core FacilityGenomics Core Facility

The Erasmus MC Genomics CoFa is headed by Prof.Dr. André Uitterlinden and consists of ~500m2 of laboratory space in Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, where ~20 dedicated fte (10 technicians, 6 bio-informaticians, 4 management/support) are working, using state-of-the-art genomics equipment. The Genomics CoFa has two integrated units, one for innovation (head: Dr. Wilfred van IJcken) and one for translational service (head: Dr. Joyce van Meurs) to best accommodate the clients’ needs and requirements. The annual budget is ~8 mio euro of which ~2 mio is through central support and the remaining budget is from customer fees. The equipment involves >60 items worth > 8 mio euro, and includes diverse machines for liquid handling (e.g., Biomek, Tecan, Caliper), next generation sequencing (Illumina (NovaSeq, HiSeq, NextSeq, MiSeq), PacBio, Nanopore, Ion Torrent), and a high-throughput array facility (Illumina, Affymetrix). For many activities we have developed high throughput protocols and standard operating procedures, e.g., we can run >1,000 DNA isolations from 5 ml blood/week, and >20,000 samples for array genotyping/week (top 5 ranking globally).
We facilitate very diverse kinds of genomics research reflecting the ongoing innovations and varied applications of (outcomes of) genomics developments in an international setting. We provide services for DNA/RNA isolation from bio-specimens (e.g., blood, sputum, saliva, stool, cells), biobanking of samples, next generation sequencing protocols for DNA and RNA (single cell, 3CSeq, cell free, WES, WGS, panel, capture, microbiome 16S, metagenomics), DNA methylation (MedSeq, 850k array, Nanopore whole genome seq, amplicon seq), microbiome genotyping (16S, 18S, array, metagenome), and DNA genotyping (arrays, WGS, Taqman). For some applications we operate under ISO certificates and for clinical diagnostic purposes. Finally, we provide experimental and data-analytic support ranging from extended QC to complete data analysis and annotation, and advice on experimental set-up and introduction to collaborative networks.
The Genomics CoFa has also been an international leading force in genomics innovations (see 5a). Over 1,000 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals (including all major general journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, NEJM, Lancet) have been published involving data generated at the Erasmus MC Genomics CoFa.