A First in the German Research Landscape

The signatures of the Rector of TU Dresden and the Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) made the internal partnership under civil law (German: BGB-Innengesellschaft) for the joint creation and operation of the DRESDEN-concept Genome Center (DCGC) official. This internal partnership represents a novel form of cooperation in the German research community, enabling the synergetic use of complex and expensive research infrastructure.

Established in 2013, the DCGC is an amalgamation of TU Dresden and MPI-CBG employees, bundling the Dresden-based expertise in the field of gene sequencing. This association guarantees that genome analysis processes and methods are made available to as many scientists as possible within the DRESDEN-concept research alliance.

The DCGC is located in the DFG Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), a Cluster of Excellence at TU Dresden, and is comprised of four methodological areas: DNA sequencing with an emphasis on Next Generation Sequencing (long and short read technologies), gene expression profiling, single-cell analyses and DNA recombineering. A core scientific goal is the creation and primarily the further development of different Next Generation Sequencing technologies. The main focus is the “Single Molecule Real Time” (SMRT) sequencing method that enables both the decoding of hitherto unknown genomes and the facilitation of clinical genetics studies, which are dependent on such high-precision sequencing methods.

Prime examples of the success of DCGC are the two recently published articles in the scientific journal “Nature”: the genomes of the Mexican salamander Axolotl and the flatworm Schmidtae mediterranea – both of them true champions of regeneration – have been fully sequenced for the first time.

On the webpage “Dresden Technology Portal”, scientists of the DRESDEN-concept research alliance can view the analysis methods developed at the DCGC as well as the shared services, equipment and infrastructures, and arrange for their utilisation.