The DNA Sequence Subcommittee was formed this summer to address the needs of the increasing number of ABRF facilities that are offering DNA sequencing services. The committee members are: Pamela Scott Adams, W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center; Mary Kay Dolejsi, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Susan Hardin, University of Houston; Sheenah Mische (ad hoc), Rockefeller University; Paul Morrison (chair), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Betsy Nanthakumar, Johns Hopkins University; and Harold Riethman, The Wistar Institute.
The Subcommittee identified two objectives it hopes to meet before the upcoming ABRF '96: Biomolecular Techniques meeting in March. The first is to identify DNA sequencing resource facilities and persuade them to become members of the ABRF. Towards this goal, Subcommittee members Paul Morrison, Betsy Nanthakumar, and Susan Hardin actively recruited new members at the Genome Sequencing Meeting held at Hilton Head, SC this past August. The Subcommittee is also working with Applied Biosystems, Pharmacia, and Licor to identify owners of automated DNA sequencers and recruit them. The second objective is to conduct a DNA sequencing study by sending a test sample and a survey questionnaire to ABRF members who perform DNA sequencing. Because of recent changes in sequencing enzymes and improvements in instrumen-tation, test samples will be sent as late as possible to help evaluate these changes. However, the Subcommittee hopes to present the results of this study at the ABRF '96 meeting, and because of this, it is important that study participants promptly return their results to the Subcommittee. Questions from a previous survey conducted by the Nucleic Acids Research Committee have been included in this year's questionnaire to evaluate how DNA sequencing in core facilities has evolved. For more information about the Subcommittee or the upcoming survey, contact Paul Morrison (Tel: (617) 632-3082, E-mail: p_morrison-@dfci.harvard.edu).
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