DNAnexus, the global leader in genome informatics and data management, today announced details of an opportunity for researchers to earn free de novo assembly services through a unique grant offered specifically for researchers in the Asia Pacific Region.

The SMRT APAC Genome Assembly Grant will award free reference-quality assembly services on PacBio SMRT Sequencing data for the most impactful proposal.

De novo genome assembly can be challenging due to the high levels of genetic diversity, repetitive elements and duplicated genomic regions present in many plant and animal genomes.

DNAnexus’ fast, accurate, and cost-efficient reference quality assembly services, has been used extensively across initiatives including the 3000 Rice Genomes Project, Vertebrate Genomes Project and individual assemblies including tobacco genome, which contains 4.5 million base pairs that are tetraploid and highly repetitive, and the immune recognition regions of the Rhesus macaque.

To enter a submission for the grant, researchers should submit a 250 word proposal with a description of the plant or animal genome and how its sequencing and de novo assembly will benefit the scientific community.

The plant or animal genome can be up to 1.5 giga base pairs  Submissions are due on September 30 at 5 p.m. China Standard Time. Winners will be announced on October 8 2018. In order to enter a submission, researchers must be located in the Asia Pacific Region.

To further highlight the importance and value of de novo assembly, DNAnexus is also hosting a dedicated webinar, Best Practices for Rapid Reference-Quality Genome Assembly, which will take place on September 5, 2018 at 10 a.m. China Standard Time.

The webinar will cover how to define a reference quality genome, layering next-generation mapping for more accurate case studies, and the best practices for PacBio’s FALCON, FALCON-Unzip and NGHRI’s Canu assemblers.

Webinar participants will also learn about the benefits of DNAnexus assembly services and hear a case study on DNAnexus’ work with the immune recognition regions of the Rhesus macaque.