Basic Considerations When Choosing The Ideal Illumina DNA Sequencer

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Illumina, like many of the medical and analytical system manufacturers, provides a range of different models and options in the products they make. They offer a full line of Illumina DNA sequencer models that are benchtop systems as well as production models that are designed to manage large volumes of runs and reads in a short period.

Understanding the best option in the various Illumina DNA sequencer models is not a one-size-fits-all type of choice. Instead, it is important to understand what the lab currently needs with regards to sequencing requirements and anticipating what it will need in the future. By doing this work before shopping for a sequencer, the choice you make will meet all of your basic needs and offer all of the features that will make workflow easier.

Benchtop Options

The Illumina benchtop DNA sequencers provide top performance in a small, compact size. Different options from the smaller iSeq 100 system through to the larger, more advanced Next Seq series allows for the lab to choose the key applications required with the sequencer as well as the methods of sequencing the model offers.

The benchtop sequencers, despite their small size, still provide top workflow and output. Even the smallest system on a 9-17.5 hour run time has a maximum output of 1.2Gb while also providing 4 million read per run. At the far end of the spectrum, the larger NextSeq series can provide 12-30 hour run times with 400 million reads per run.

Production-Scale Options

Large testing and research facilities will see the advantages of moving the larger series and systems. As with the smaller benchtop sequencers, they offer a range of different testing methods and applications, but with greater flexibility in runtime, output and maximum reads per run. The largest system, the NovaSeq, is able to provide billions of reads per run with a maximum output that can be as high as 6000 Gb.

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