The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose mission it is to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing, and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of human diseases and conditions. Next generation RNA sequencing of human cells identifies and characterizes the whole transcriptome expressed by cells. This type of analysis helps analyze the dynamic gene expression profile undergoing within the cells which determines the fate of the cells. NCATS ongoing research project in the stem cell translation laboratory is focused on defining optimum culture conditions for maintaining pluripotent stem cells and their conversion to homogenous and mature populations of differentiated cells, routine RNA sequencing library preparation and analysis of stem cells will help establish quality controls for protocols under development. In NCATS’ stem cell translation laboratory, there is a sequencing instrument identified as the Novaseq 6000 by Illumina. From the most recent preventative maintenance service, NCATS discovered that one of the main components is in need of replacement as it is no longer effective (Line Generation Module, LGM) as it is crucial for the output of the data.
