J’apura University establishes rapid, low cost nanopore sequencing for the first time in SL

The genomic sequencing facility of the Allergy Immunology and Cell Biology Unit (AICBU) at the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, has added nanopore sequencing technology to their sequencing facility.

This unit has been instrumental in carrying out SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in the country so far, since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka in March 202 The addition of the nanopore sequencing technology will enable AICBU to ramp up the capacity of sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes significantly, at this crucial point of the outbreak in Sri Lanka.

Nanopore sequencing is a unique new generation sequencing technology developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. in the UK to carry out real-time analysis of DNA and RNA. With this technology, it enables the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere as it offers fully scalable platforms from pocket size to population scale. Compared to other sequencing technologies available, nanopore sequencing provides rich data, is fast, accessible, and easy to use, and enables analysis of ultra-long DNA or RNA reads in real time.

Importantly, the cost of analysing a sample is significantly cheaper. Nanopore sequencing technology is being extensively used in more than 80 countries around the world in wide range of applications and it is currently playing a significant role in genomic surveillance of the COVID-19 outbreak in many countries. With the addition of this technology, apart from the SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing activities, the department also will soon be engaging in many other research projects on dengue, human microbiome studies, sequencing of immune cells, and RNA sequencing.