CLC bio and Danish research institutions establish next generation sequencing network

CLC bio and several prominent Danish research institutions have established SEQNET - a national network for developing a unique software platform for the analysis of data from the next generation sequencing technologies. The platform will integrate groundbreaking bioinformatics algorithms with a user-friendly and graphical user interface. The network is funded by the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation, with a total of three million USD and will initially operate for three years, starting January 2008.

Senior Scientific Officer at CLC bio, Dr. Roald Forsberg, states,

"Next generation sequencing technologies, like 454, Solexa, or SOLiD are pushing a revolution in genetic analysis. Their massive throughput has given rise to a plethora of novel applications for DNA sequencing and has dramatically increased the ambitions of existing projects. However, handling the large amounts of fragmented data presents a great bioinformatics challenge to be dealt with before researchers can get the full value of these new technologies. Since DNA sequencing is becoming omnipresent in research we believe that the answer to this challenge is a unified next generation sequencing platform. In this network, we will make such a platform come together by combining our unique capacities for producing graphical user interfaces, algorithms and high performance computing solutions with the expertise of Denmark’s foremost researchers in the field."

Head of the Danish SEQNET project and Associate Professor at the Department of Life Sciences at Aalborg University, Dr. Kåre Lehmann Nielsen, continues,

"We're fortunate to be able to establish this national network with one of the leading bioinformatics companies in the world, CLC bio. They bring a very high level of understanding and experience in working with cutting edge technology and advanced algorithm design. With their multifaceted workbench structure, CLC bio will provide a stabile and user-friendly platform for this project. During the project, the tools developed will be tested and refined through a wide variety of different research projects, ranging from tag-based expression analysis and metagenome analysis of sludge, to cancer cell characterization, ensuring the solution will receive first-class input from all the finest experts in Denmark."

A significant amount of new or optimized bioinformatics algorithms will be developed in this project. They will all be bundled into a comprehensive bioinformatics package based on CLC bio's present platform, the workbench, facilitating analysis of new sequencing technology data by research groups in companies and large corporations, as well as public and private research institutions.

The founding partners of the Danish SEQNET, of which four sites already have invested more than four million USD in next generation sequencing equipment in 2007, are Department of Life Sciences at Aalborg University, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at Aarhus University, Department of Biology at University of Copenhagen, University of Southern Denmark, Aalborg University Hospital, and CLC bio.