The Centre for Genome Biology

Keywords

Human evolutionary genomics, Genome-environment interaction, Evolutionary anthropology, Evolutionary medicine, Massive parallel sequencing, SNP arrays

The Centre for Genome Biology, which is located in Selmi, 3 (basement floor, room 20A), supports research and teaching activities based on the generation and analyses of genomic data to investigate the evolutionary processes that have shaped the biodiversity patterns observable among human populations, the genetic bases of their adaptations to different environmental and socio-cultural contexts, as well as the biomedical implications related to the rapid transformation of such contexts in the modern era.

The Centre is equipped for purifying and quantifying DNA and RNA samples and for preparing molecular libraries to be submitted to high-throughput analyses (e.g., massive parallel sequencing of whole genomes, transcriptomes, exomes, or genome-wide genotyping by means of SNP arrays). To store, manage, and analyze the data generated, the Centre relies on two disks within the NAS system of the BiGeA Department and is also equipped with two computing servers located at the BiGeA Data Laboratory.     

Equipment

In addition to basic instruments (e.g., refrigerators, freezing cabinets, vortex, micropipettes, etc.) the Centre for Genome Biology is equipped with:

- StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR System (Life Technologies)

- Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies)

- Qubit® 3.0 fluorometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific)

- GENEAMP 2720 Thermal Cycler (Thermo Fisher Scientific)

- E-Gel SizeSelect (Thermo Fisher Scientific)

- Well plate refrigerated centrifuge (Eppendorf)

- Microcentrifuge 5418 (Eppendorf)

- POWERPAC 300 instrument for gel electrophoresis (BioRad)

- Heated bath

- Transilluminator (Vilber Lourmat)

- Compact centrifuge (VWR)

- Sonicator 40 kHz

- DYNAMAG-2 magnetic rack (Thermo Fisher Scientific)

- 2 servers (Dell) + 2 NAS storage disks (QNAP) for a total of 80 processors, 500 GB RAM and 38 TB of disk space

Teaching, training, and research activity

The Centre for Genome Biology provides support for:

- course exercises within the framework of the Biological Sciences (Bachelor) and Biodiversity & Evolution (Master) degree programs and of the Plan for Scientific Degrees (PLS);

- traineeships and thesis preparation by students of the Biological Sciences (Bachelor), Natural Sciences (Bachelor), Biodiversity & Evolution (Master), Science & Management of Nature (Master) degree programs, and for international ERASMUS students;

- implementation of project activities and preparation of thesis by students of the PhD program in Hearth, Life, and Environmental Sciences;

- implementation of project activities by research fellows and post-docs;

- implementation of project activities within the framework of the initiatives of the Interdepartmental Centre Alma Mater Research Institute on Global Challenges and Climate Change.

Services

Within the framework of scientific collaborations, the instruments of the Centre are currently used by several research groups belonging to the BiGeA, FaBiT, and DIMES Departments, as well as by research groups from the S. Orsola Hospital. Nevertheless, the Centre does not provide services because it cannot rely on dedicated technical personnel.