Western Australia switches on its first next generation genome sequencers

Western Australia has truly entered the genomic age with two brand new SOLiD next generation sequencing devices going online today at the Royal Perth Hospital.

The sequencers are a gift from prominent Perth entrepreneur Charles Morgan, who is a director of Hercules Energy.

Mr Morgan's nearly $1 million donation, along with $225,000 from the University of Western Australia, have bought a SOLiD4 and SOLiD 5500XL next generation sequencers, as well as an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer, SPRIworks TE Fragment Library system II and OpenArray Realtime PCR system for sample preparation.

This equipment will be made available to researchers working at any university or other research organisation as well as staff at the WA Department of Health.

It is anticipated the sequencers will be used for medical research and diagnosis along with animal health and agriculture research.

The sequencers went online today at the Lotterywest State Biomedical Facility: Genomics (LSBFG) at Royal Perth Hospital.

The equipment was purchased through Life Technologies in early December.