GeneMill

The GeneMill is an automation, synthetic biology and protein production facility as well as a founder member of the Global Biofoundry Alliance, formed as part of the UK government initiative to strengthen engineering biology capabilities in the country and beyond.

GeneMill offers a modern range of capabilities for high-throughout, automated gene cloning, sequence diversity generation and phenotyping (“Design, Build, Test”). Our portfolio also includes a full protein production service.

Our facility has experience in molecular biology methodology as applied to modern synthetic biology for the construction and testing of a variety of DNA and other molecular libraries. A dedicated team runs the production of custom protein expression in bacteria, yeast and insect cells.

The facility’s state-of-the-art equipment and resources are supported by experienced and knowledgeable specialists led by renowned system biology and biotechnology expert Professor Douglas B. Kell.

What you'll receive from our facility

• GeneMill has an active research and development track record to ensure that we have and can develop state-of-the-art methods, and that allows us to engage in challenging projects and to collaborate with a range of stakeholders
• Our facility staff are available to share their expertise on DNA construct design, HT DNA fabrication and cloning and phenotyping
• We provide a full range of services, including providing end-to-end design, construction and phenotypic validation of libraries of gene constructs. We are also able to offer support in: grant applications (preliminary data analysis, figure preparation, method development, data management planning and costings); analysis including method development, data acquisition, associated software training and support and dissemination including outreach and stakeholder support, manuscript preparation and data deposition
• The expression of custom protein at competitive rates in hosts such as bacteria (e.g. E.coli), yeast (e.g. S.cerevisiae, P.pastoris) and insect cells
• Training is provided on a 1-to-1 hands-on basis.

Who can use our facilities

• University of Liverpool staff and students
• Other universities / research institutions
• Industry and other private sector entities.

What the GeneMill can be used for

• Identifying novel genes and pathways through metagenomic analyses
• Optimising proteins using combinatorial libraries
• Liquid robotic handling for drug and fragment library screening
• Screening of affinity and solubility tags for protein expression
• Mixing-and-Matching protein domains for structural and functional studies
• Screening of regulatory DNA sequences e.g. promoters, operators, enhancers etc.
• Scalable fermentation
• Expression optimisation
• Clone screening.

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