The DNA Tech Core recently implemented a new short-read sequencing technology. The AVITI sequencer from Element Biosciences provides medium-scale sequencing at higher quality and significantly lower costs compared to Illumina sequencers. While the sequencing chemistry is very different, the instrument is compatible with Illumina libraries and files. 

• The AVITI sequencer enables the Core to deliver higher quality sequencing data faster at the same per-base costs of the biggest NovaSeq 6000 flowcell.
• The mean AVITI quality scores exceed Q40 (>99.99% accuracy), and 95% of the data exceed Q30.
• The AVITI runs two flow-cells independently, with each flow-cell delivering about one billion read pairs.
• The cost for a 300 cycle run (PE150) is $2,000, and $1,400 for a 150 cycle run.
• No index hopping and no read duplication during clustering.
• Element Biosciences has announced an upgrade that will further improve read qualities and sequencing speed in the next two months. A 600 cycle kit (enabling PE300 reads) will become available in the summer.
• In contrast to the traditional sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry (SBS), the AVITI employs a sequencing-by-binding chemistry (SBB) that requires the binding of a multivalent fluorescent polymerase substrate by avidity. The use of these so-called Avidites increases specificity and reduces the fluorescent chemistry costs by an order of magnitude. With this technology, the DNA synthesis steps can be carried out with unlabeled nucleotides.

Find out more about the AVITI sequencer at: https://www.elementbiosciences.com/products/aviti