The University of Connecticut, including UConn Health, and The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) for Genomic Medicine said today they will create a joint Single Cell Genomics Center.
The $7.7 million facility is designed to allow investigators from JAX and UConn to gain a more precise view of cellular mechanisms by focusing on activity at the level of the individual cell, the institutions said.
They added that the new center also builds upon advances over recent years in automation and microfluidics that allow researchers to more effectively analyze single cells in small, well-controlled reaction volumes.
“This new center is not only one of the first in the world dedicated to single cell genomics, but also represents the first JAX-UConn cooperative facility,” Charles Lee, Ph.D., scientific director and professor at JAX Genomic Medicine, said in a statement.
The Single Cell Genomics Center will be located within JAX Genomic Medicine’s permanent facility on the UConn Health campus in Farmington, CT, which opened last year.
The facility is also where JAX Genomic Medicine plans to open a Center for Precision Genetics, funded through a nearly $10 million NIH grant announced earlier this month. There, JAX will partner with several collaborating institutions in focusing on research into life-threatening and genetically complex human diseases through new approaches to developing precision models.