Benchtop Sequencing System

The Environmental Sequencing Facility at the University of Southampton is seeking a next-generation sequencing system to replace its current benchtop short-read platform, which is being phased out by the manufacturer. The new system must be compatible with existing short-read, paired-end sequencing-by-synthesis chemistries and data analysis workflows, while offering significantly higher throughput and faster processing times. Key requirements include strong performance for applications like amplicon and whole-genome sequencing, the ability to generate up to 15 Gigabases (Gb) of sequencing data using 2 X 300 base pair (bp) sequencing chemistry, and the capacity to produce up to 50 million reads per sequencing run. To ensure high sequencing quality, the new platform must maintain an average per-base quality score exceeding 80% higher than Q30 (phred quality score) throughout the sequencing process. This procurement is being conducted through the LAB2010 NE Framework Lot 1 direct award.