BIOGEM

The Biomedical Genomics laboratory (BIOGEM) is a genomics facility located in the Department of Medicine at UCSD. (BIOGEM) was established in 2000 to provide spotted cDNA microarray technology to the UCSD research community. Since then the scope has been expanded to include a variety of related services and resources, including several commercial microarray platforms and second (next-gen) generation sequencing technology. Currently BIOGEM provides RNA sample analysis and quantification services. Additionally BIOGEM processes commercial array platforms including Illumina and Agilent. Presently BIOGEM has 3 Illumina 1G Analyzer instruments and supports a variety of sequencing assays including DNA-sequencing, digital gene expression, small RNA sequencing, chIP-sequencing and bisulfite sequencing. BIOGEM also provides image scanning and data analysis services. Microarray and next-gen sequencing experimentation, data acquisition and analysis require expensive instrumentation and reagents and a highly skilled team of individuals who are experts in specific components of the overall procedure. These technologies therefore lie beyond the scope of most individual laboratories and can only be made accessible to academic investigators through common core facilities. In addition to providing conventional genomic services, such cores provide essential platforms for advancing new technologies. The Biomedical Genomics (BIOGEM) Core facility at UCSD has been instrumental in providing UCSD investigators access to these technologies. In particular, they have played a key role in enabling UCSD faculty to effectively compete for extramural grant support. The value of these technologies in discovery research has enabled investigators to identify signal transduction pathways, uncover new targets for therapeutic intervention, and reveal biomarkers for disease detection, prognosis, and guide treatment decision-making.