Genomics Research Unit / Luxembourg Biomedical Research Resources / Competence centers / CRP-Santé

Genomics Research Unit

Activities
Presentation
Services
Team
Publications

The Genomics Research Unit, within the Luxembourg Biomedical Research Resources (LBR2) at CRP-Santé, is a shared core resource facility that provides comprehensive, high quality and reliable microarray analysis services for both academic and private sector scientists. Equipped with a wide range of state-of-the-art technology platforms, the facility offers expertise in molecular and cell biology techniques, biostatistics and bioinformatics.

The Genomics Research Unit actively collaborates with many national and foreign institutions to advance genomics research in areas as diverse as food tracing and health and environmental issues. The Center also carries out independent research in genomics and bioinformatics.

The Genomic Research Unit is available to partner in all stages of genomics research projects, including:

Assistance with experimental designs
Extraction, quality control, and processing of DNA and RNA samples
Custom microarray development, including the design of oligonucleotide probes
Microarray processing, analysis, and manufacturing
In-depth analysis and interpretation of microarray data
Assistance in writing publications

The Genomics Research Unit offers a full range of integrated services for genomics studies that can be specifically tailored to the needs of each user upon request. All analyses are carried out according to state-of-the-art standard operational procedures in compliance with international guidelines.

The Genomics Research Unit is headed by Laurent Vallar , PhD, MSc.

Dr. Laurent also holds a position as Assistant Professor at the University of Luxembourg. Dr. Laurent has also been the recipient of major national research grants, and the results of his research have been extensively published in international, high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The Genomics Research Unit was created in 2002 as a part of the former laboratory of molecular biology, genomics and modelling (LBMAGM). The laboratory is autonomous since September 2007 and is now integrated into the Technology Department/ Luxembourg Biomedical Research Resources (LBR2) of CRP-Santé. The facility actively collaborates with many national and foreign institutions to advance genomics research in areas as diverse as health, food tracing and environmental issues (www.microarray.lu and www.bioinformatics.lu ).

Genomics Research Unit offers a full range of integrated services for genomics studies that can be specifically tailored to users’ needs, including:

DNA/RNA extraction, quality control and processing
Expression profiling (genes, exons, miRNAs) using major whole-genome commercial microarray platforms (Affymetrix & Agilent) available for a large set of organisms
aCGH analysis using Agilent microarrays
Production of cell/tissue microarrays
Custom microarray design and production (DNA-, oligonucleotide- or protein-based)
Microarray data processing (quality control, normalisation, extraction of meaningful data) through in-depth biostatistical analysis
Data exploration and interpretation using advanced bioinformatics tools and databases

Additional microarray applications may be implemented locally on user’s demand. Genomics Research Unit also provides assistance for experiment design and scientific documentation writing (project proposals, publications).
All analyses run at The Genomics Research Unit are carried out according to state-of-the-art standard operational procedures which comply with international guidelines.

Major equipment

The Genomics Research Unit has a full set of state-of-the-art, high-performance instruments allowing the handling, the preparation and the analysis of large series of samples, as well as the production of custom microarrays. With these equipments, the platform has a high flexibility, so that it can offer fully customized solution regarding the needs of users.

Affymetrix GeneChip system (hybridization oven, fluidic station and GeneChip scanner 3000 with autoloader for 48 arrays)
Agilent microarray system (hybridization oven, high-resolution microarray scanner)
Axon Genepix 4000B microarray scanner
Slidebooster 800 microarray hybridization station and Advawash microarray washing station (Advalytix)
Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer
NanoDrop ND-100 spectrophotometer
High-precision robotic microarrayer Microgrid II (Genomic solutions)
Hamilton MicroLab Star liquid handling robot system

Software

The Genomics Research Unit uses high-level computational and statistical techniques for in-depth analysis and interpretation of microarray datasets. Several specialised and high-performance software are available including:

For microarray image analysis : Axon Genepix Pro, Affymetrix GeneChip Commande Console, Agilent Feature extraction, Agilent DNA Workbench
For Microarray data quality control, data analysis, annotation and visualisation : Axon Acuity, Partek Genomics Suite, R and Bioconductor algorithms
For data mining : Ingenuity Pathway analysis, Explain analysis system, SRS, Emboss
For data storage : BASE

Training

The Genomics Research Unit provides users with trainings covering all aspects of microarray work and use of databases and analysis software. Training sessions are organized on request.
In addition, The Genomics Research Unit actively participates in the training of master and doctoral fellows.

How to access the Genomics Research Unit ?

The Genomics Research Unit at CRP-Santé is accessible to academic and private sector scientists alike. Joining collaborative research projects is the preferred way of working at Genomics Research Unit, but the facility can also operate in a fee-for-service mode.