Environmental Sequencing Facility

We perform a range of wet lab protocols, ranging from nucleic acid quality assurance to library preparation and in-house sequencing

Our Illumna MiSeq sequencing platform

Our Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing device

We can facilitate and assist with a broad variety of computational workflows

More Information

About the Environmental Sequencing Facility

The Environmental Sequencing Facility provides a range of next-generation sequencing and analysis services using the latest cutting-edge technologies. Our experienced staff offer a wealth of knowledge in this field and understand the complex requirements of modern research environments.

Based within Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, the Environmental Sequencing Facility is part of a world-class research institution.

Our services

advice on experimental design
library preparation and quality control
sequencing
data analysis and interpretation
quotes for grant applications

Technical specification

Sequencing capabilities

in-house sequencing platforms, the Illumina MiSeq and Oxford Nanopore MinION, provide versatile capabilities for various research applications
MiSeq generates up to 25 million read pairs per run, yielding 15 Gb of data with a typical read length of 2x300bp
the MinION, a portable device, can produce up to 1 million reads per run and approximately 50 Gb of data, with read lengths ranging from a few hundred to millions of bases

This instruments are suitable for:

whole genome sequencing of small genomes
RNA sequencing
Amplicon sequencing
Methylation profiling

Please contact us via email to discuss specific nucleic acid sample requirements for your project.

Complementing our sequencing capabilities, we are also equipped with a suite of advanced laboratory equipment, enabling high-throughput and precise workflows. Key instruments include:

Agilent 4200 Tapestation for automated nucleic acid quality control
Biomek 4000 liquid handling robot and Formulatrix Mantis for automated liquid handling
Roche LightCycler qPCR instruments for reliable qPCR and RT-qPCR testing
FluidX barcoded tubes for secure sample tracking

To support the computational demands of various bioinformatics pipelines, we also maintain a dedicated analysis server and filestore for high throughput data processing. We have expertise in the following computational workflows:

Community Metabarcoding analysis
Metagenomics
Metatranscriptomics
whole genome sequencing file store for high throughput data processing

Please get in contact with us to discuss how we can specifically assist in the planning and implementation of these wet lab or computational applications in your research projects.

Expert team

Dr Spencer Long

Environment Sequencing Facility Manager

Connect with Spencer

Email: S.Long@soton.ac.uk

Professor Phyllis Lam

Professor

Research interests

Dr. Lam's research interest lies in the functional roles of microorganisms in biogeochemical cycling, particularly the nitrogen and carbon cycles, in diverse marine and aquatic systems. In collaboration with researchers inside and outside the university, her work integrates state-of-the-art molecular ecological techniques, stable isotopic analyses, process rate measurements, hypothesis-driven experimentation and modelling, to disentangle complex microbial interactions and their impacts on biogeochemical environments especially in the context of global change.
Current research topics include:
Shortcuts in the nitrogen cycle – novel pathways and microbial players for nitrogen remineralisation in the ocean’s twilight zoneMicrobial carbon remineralisation pathways and fluxes in the mesopelagic oceanUsing proteomics tools to disentangle active microbial nitrogen and carbon cycling processes in oceanic oxygen minimum zonesImportance of particle-associated microeukaryotes on the efficiency of oceanic biological carbon pumpMicrobial production and consumption pathways of greenhouse gases

Connect with Phyllis

Email: P.Lam@southampton.ac.uk