Amplicon Sequencing Service for microbial community characterisation from environmental and human samples

In the context of multiple national and international projects or other assignments, Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has collected samples from natural and man-made environments (indoor air, dust, water, etc.), as well as from humans (skin swabs, nasal swabs, throat swabs, etc.), and future efforts will involve additional sample collections, sample processing and extraction and purification of genomic DNA from those samples. In addition, from part of the samples, also total RNA has been or will be extracted. The objective of the procurement is to generate amplicon sequencing data from the collected samples. The microbiome targets include primarily bacteria/archaea (16S rRNA), microeukaryotes (18S rRNA) and fungi (ITS sequence) but may also include other targets eg. viruses, protozoa, or functional genes. Amplicon sequencing service (complete service from nucleic acids): THL will ship the nucleic acids (DNA and/or cDNA samples) to be sequenced, typically in 15-50 μl volume, to the service provider. The samples are non-infectious, purified DNA, closed in screw-capped tubes or sealed in a 96-well plate. The samples will be shipped in multiple batches of different sizes. A typical batch size will be 100 to 500 samples, but batches may be also smaller or larger on occasion. The service to be provided includes PCR amplification of the target region of interest (16S rRNA, ITS, 18S rRNA, etc.) and subsequent amplicon sequencing on Illumina MiSeq V3 or comparable platforms, to generate sequences with a target size of 300bp or more. We expect the service provider to store the remainder of the sample batch for possible later sequencing up to one year and/or communicate with THL returning unused nucleic acids. We expect to be able to discuss in detail PCR and sequencing conditions for each batch to be processed before the start of each sequencing project. The contract will be awarded to one (1) Service Provider based on a comparison of tenders. Tender that is economically the most advantageous will win the competition. The most economically advantageous Tender shall be a Tender with lowest price. The estimated start time for the contract is autumn 2024. The contract period is valid for two (2) years and thereafter until further notice.

The main place for the service is Kuopio, but it is possible to be Helsinki also.