Dr. Li-Byarlay has donated an Illumina MiniSeq sequencer (fair market value of $50000) to the College of Science and Engineering and the Land-Grant Programs at Central State University in December 2017. Dr. Li-Byarlay is a new Assistant Professor at CSU.
She won the 2nd prize of “Go Mini Grant Challenge Competition” of Illumina company in April 2016, and was awarded with this MiniSeq sequencer.
This equipment will be needed to initiate the research in honey bee genetics and behavior program, including investigations of genomic biology and mitigating decline of honeybees. Honeybees are the most important managed pollinators worldwide in the sustainable agricultural practice.
The MiniSeq sequencing technology will enhance the research capacity and resources of the Agricultural Research and Development Program, initiate cutting-edge research and education in agricultural genomics, genetics, ecology, and molecular biology, and benefit other faculty members in the sustainable agriculture research.
In addition, the data produced by this equipment will benefit faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science for data science, machine learning, and high-performance computing. Students in the College of Science and Engineering will have opportunities to access to the newest technology in genome research and develop projects across life sciences and engineering sciences.
