NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — The Netherlands-based Wageningen University and Research Center has purchased a 454 FLX sequencer from Roche to help it study plant genomics, the company said yesterday.
The sequencer will be installed next month at the Bioscience business unit of Plant Research International, which was part of the global research network that first charted and published the complete the genome sequence of a plant.
The center, known as Wageningen UR, said it expects the instrument to enable it to read DNA 500 times faster than it currently can, and said it will work with Roche “to further develop analysis protocols.”
Wageningen UR is a collaboration between Wageningen University, Van Hall Larenstein School of Higher Professional Education, and the specialized research institutes of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture.
According to its website, Wageningen UR “works on knowledge that helps us to create safe, healthy and above all tasty food. Food that is healthy and safe for us, but also for our environment.”
Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.