NGSxpress

Healthy, well-functioning ecosystems form the foundation for biomass production, food supply, diverse and resilient nature, water management, and human health and well-being. The EU aims for healthy soils by 2050; Flanders aims to remediate historically polluted soils before 2036. The EU Water Framework Directive seeks a good ecological status for all Flemish water bodies, and the Air Policy Plan 2030 aims to halve the health impact of air pollution by 2030. Despite climate adaptation efforts in agriculture, more research is needed for robust and sustainable farming. Technical Committee 466 and EPR impose rules on producers to reduce environmental impact and (micro)plastic pollution.

Hence, there is a growing demand for the implementation of the innovative NGSxpress DNA platform:

• It comprises an automated robot and a long-read sequencer to further develop and expand various new and existing DNA analyses and applications.
• The platform will address existing technical bottlenecks in DNA analyses: increasing efficiency, high-throughput, accuracy, quality control, and customization.
• The platform will allow for expanding services to Flemish (and international) companies and improving knowledge dissemination. It is a critical success factor for enabling a circular economy and mitigating the effects of climate change.
• With the purchase and installation of this flexible, innovative NGSxpress platform, VLAIO/EFRO strengthens Flemish DNA expertise with applications in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, soil biodiversity, and soil remediation.

This project is made possible thanks to the support from Europe (EFRO), VLAIO, UHasselt-CMK, Witteveen+Bos Belgium NV and Vereecken Farms.

^{This project is supported by Europe (Europees Fonds voor regionale ontwikkeling - EFRO), with an investment of € 40.596,00.}