The sequencing team of the Genomics Research and Development Institute (ICDG), coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Relu Cocoș, carried out a working visit to the headquarters of Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) in Oxford, United Kingdom.
The visit included a tour of the automation lab, guided by Rebecca Deane and Bronwen Laugharne, where the team saw first-hand robotic solutions for automating sequencing library preparation, including pipetting systems integrated with PCR modules, designed to optimize workflows and increase the reproducibility of the process. This was followed by a tour of the laboratories in the Gosling Building guided by James Mason, along with in-depth discussions with ONT specialists on sequencing protocols, their optimization, and the development directions of the technology in the field of genomics.
A particular highlight of the visit was the tour of the MinION Building, the company’s production site, where the flow cells used in Oxford Nanopore sequencing platforms are manufactured at scale — an opportunity to see the entire manufacturing and quality control process behind this technology.
The visit provides the ICDG team with concrete insights for optimizing their own sequencing protocols and for expanding automation in their genomic sequencing laboratory. This exchange is particularly valuable for the long-read sequencing of 2,000 presumably healthy individuals within the ROGEN project, using this technology. We thank the Oxford Nanopore Technologies team for their openness and for this valuable exchange of experience.
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