Home of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW has a long history of genome sequencing. This is supported by bioinformatics staff and the UNSW Science katana computing cluster, which includes the recent addition of a 1TB memory node for genome assembly.
Current BABS staff involved in genome projects, include:
Peter White, Rich Edwards and Marc Wilkins are part of a consortium to sequence the cane toad genome.
Bill Ballard is sequencing a Desert Dingo, Sandy, winner of the 2017 PacBio “World’s Most Interesting Genome” competition.
Marc Wilkins and the NSW Systems Biology Initiative played a leading role in the sequencing and assembly of the koala genome, including a full PacBio long read assembly.
The Edwards Lab are working on full diploid sequencing and assembly of multiple yeast strains as part of an ARC-funded industrial collaboration.
Li Zhang’s group is sequencing large numbers of Campylobacter concisus strains isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and healthy controls. Translocation of oral C. concisus to the intestinal tract was shown to be associated with IDB and these genomes will identify virulence genes that can be used to identify IBD-associated C. concisus strains.
