China's BGI and the University of California, Davis, plan to open a BGI sequencing facility on the UC Davis Health System campus in Sacramento, Calif., the organizations said this week.
The new facility, to be called the BGI@UC Davis Joint Genome Center, will support research in the areas of human and animal health and medicine, food safety and security, biology, and the environment at the UC Davis and UC Sacramento campuses.
The center will occupy about 10,000 square feet and have 20 employees. Ultimately, it is expected to increase UC Davis' DNA sequencing capacity about tenfold and to generate about 200 new jobs in the Sacramento area.
Under the agreement, UC Davis faculty and students will gain access to BGI's genomics and bioinformatics expertise, while BGI researchers will be able to access the university's resources and expertise in education and research, especially in biology, human and veterinary medicine, agriculture, and the environment.
“Having access to world-class genomic sequencing and bioinformatics capabilities on campus will enable UC Davis faculty to attack bigger and more ambitious problems, as well as to compete for bigger grants and projects by expanding cooperation and collaboration teams in agriculture and health,” said Bart Weimer, professor of population health and reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in a statement. Weimer is a member of the university’s leadership team assembled to work with BGI on the partnership.
The agreement to build the center on the UC Davis campus builds on a partnership agreement the organizations signed in June, under which they agreed to share resources and conduct large-scale genome sequencing and functional genomics programs.