We build genetic constructs for academic and industrial customers to equip cells or whole organisms with new or improved functionalities. We work on projects as diverse as programming stem cells for use in personalised medicine, vaccine development, gene therapy (including viral vectors) and living biosensors.
DNA Design and Project Planning
Our team will help you design and plan your next high-throughput project, using our expertise in lab automation, DNA design and cloning strategies.
DNA Assembly
We deliver high-throughput projects involving long constructs (>5kbp), constructs comprising large numbers of genetic parts, or combinatorial libraries. Our platform is agnostic on the host chassis; to date, we have assembled constructs for use in bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells.
We have worked on a great variety of projects from stem cell engineering, gene therapies to viral vaccines (and see here ). Contact us to talk through your ideas.
As a guide, we charge £125 per construct for researchers. The cost of synthesis of the DNA parts is not included. Industry rates are negotiable.
Cell Phenotyping
EGF’s Berkeley Light Beacon
Edinburgh Genome Foundry now have the first Berkeley Lights Beacon instrument (funded by a BBSRC grant) installed in an academic institution in Europe. This high-throughput automated cell selection platform allows high capacity single cell cloning, analysis and outgrowth, with FDA-approved verified clonal origin.
The power of the Beacon lies in its nanofluidic and optoelectro positioning (OEP) technology. Disposable flow chips contain 1000’s of ultra-low volume chambers (nanopens) that ensure constant media exchange by laminar flow with no shear stress. LEDs on the chip allows individual cells to be chosen and moved by a light-induced electric field into each nanopen. Four colour fluorescent and brightfield imaging allows for multiplexed assays, repeatable over the culture time, with custom software providing potent data analytics.
Using the Beacon to reach your research goals is as simple as Import > Culture > Assay > Export, and extremely powerful. From one day to assess T cell phenotypes or B cell antibody discovery, and profile single cells for genotyping, to five days for cell line development with extensive supporting data allowing you to choose the best performing clones for export and expansion. Assays already developed include real-time IgG secretion, multiplex cytokine secretion, viral neutralisation, tumour killing, enzyme activity and more. Cell-cell-interactions can be monitored, secreted factors captured, and deep profiling of verified clones performed.
We now offer open access (fee for service) to this powerful platform for academics and industry. Contact us to discuss how the Beacon can help your research, from discovery to delivery.
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We also offer a range of cell phenotyping assays including qPCR, high-throughput micro-fermentation as well as kinetic analysis. Additionally, we have access to proteomics and metabolomics capabilities (via our sister facility – Edinomics ) and to laser-enabled cell transformation and selection (via our unique LEAP system).
Laboratory Equipment and Protocols
Automation solutions allow for reliable, high throughput, and cost-effective execution of repetitive tasks. We offer a wide range of automated molecular biology protocols as a service. Researchers can also be trained on selected equipment (e.g. acoustic dispenser, high throughput fermenter or replicating robot) to accelerate their research.
Protocols available include:
- DNA transformation and purification
- qPCR
- Replica plating
- Colony picking
- Mini-fermentations
Using our unique equipment and expertise we are able to develop bespoke custom assays to address the needs of your research. Please get in touch to discuss your next big idea.
DNA Design and Lab Automation Software
The EGF is committed to developing and sharing industry-grade software for DNA Design, Laboratory Automation and Synthetic Biology. We host an open-access collection of web applications (https://cuba.genomefoundry.org) with over 20 functionalities for sequence optimization, cloning simulation, generation of robotic picklists, and more.
We also offer a suite of open-source software libraries trusted by computational biologists and biofoundry engineers around the world (https://github.com/Edinburgh-Genome-Foundry).