ALF DNA Sequencers

Robert Lyons (boblyons@umich.edu)
Tue, 22 Jun 1999 16:37:53 -0400

As the director of a DNA sequencing core, I have always been
involved in the usual PE sequencers - 373, 377 and variants
thereof. A researcher here at U-M, however, has been persuading
his colleagues to buy ALF sequencers. The numbers he cites
for operating costs seem too good to be true - which makes
me suspicious. Perhaps someone on the list has some experience
with ALF sequencers and can confirm or deny the virtues of
these machines:

Reagent costs: $3.80/sample
Gel capacity: 10 samples
Technician effort expended to process 10 samples, pour and run the
gel and clean up afterwards: 1 hour. (!!!)
read length: 900-1100 nt of clean sequence
Instrument cost in quantity: $30,000
Instrument breakdown: "rarely"
Training time: 1 day to 1 week max

Based on those numbers, it sounds like it's about $5 a sample to
get those impressive read lengths of a kilobase or so. Even the
biggest genome centers pay $5 to $7 per lane! (yeah, that's direct
PLUS indirect, but still ...).

What's the real story?

Bob Lyons
University of Michigan