Department Facilities and locationsResearch platformsObjectives and services provided

Objectives and services provided - Sequencing platform

The SEQUENCING PLATFORM has been established at the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine of the University of Florence, with its primary facilities located within the laboratories of Padiglione 27b / Cubo3 at the Complesso Polivalente Cubo (Viale Pieraccini 6). Its objective is to provide researchers with the instrumentation, extensive knowledge base, and technical expertise acquired by the platform's personnel over decades.

The platform was established as a shared infrastructure, accessible not only to researchers from the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine and other Departments of the University of Florence, but also to scholars from other universities and national or international research centers, both public and private. It represents an advanced technological infrastructure dedicated to genomic, transcriptomic, and molecular analysis, supporting basic, translational, and applied research activities.

The primary applications offered by the SEQUENCING PLATFORM are:

• Whole-genome sequencing (WGS)
• Whole-exome sequencing (WES)
• Targeted sequencing
• mRNA‑Sequencing (bulk / single-cell)
• Total RNA sequencing (including coding and non-coding RNA forms)
• Single-cell RNA-Sequencing
• Immune repertoire sequencing – identification of immune receptor repertoires (TCR/BCR).
• Metagenomics / Microbiome profiling
• Genotyping and variant analysis
• Methylation sequencing (with integrated whole-genome methylation / RRBS workflows)
• Sequencing of amplicons and PCR products.
• Sequencing of plasmids and cloned inserts.
• Confirmation of target sequences following amplification or gene editing.
• Validation of polymorphisms (SNPs), single-nucleotide variants, and small insertions/deletions (SNVs, Indels).
• Study of microsatellites, STRs (Short Tandem Repeats), and repetitive elements.
• Analysis of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) indices and genotyping.
• Fragment analysis applications for SNPs, AFLPs, and locus panel genotyping.

Based on research needs and the technical knowledge/expertise of the proposing researcher, the personnel of the Sequencing Platform will provide comprehensive technical and scientific consulting prior to the experimental phase. Furthermore, staff members are available for scientific collaborations and to support external researchers through access to advanced instrumentation and specialized expertise.