Received ZonMW ETH grant for RENEW proposal

Just before Christmas I received news that my ZonMW Enabling Technologies Hotel proposal called RENEW: Resequencing Nasonia to Enhance its Workability is getting subsidized!

With this grant money I will resequence Nasonia vitripennis in collaboration with Leiden Genome Techology Center to drastically improve its genome. For this, we plan to use PacBio sequencing in combination with optical mapping to obtain a very reliable, highly contiguous assembly.

​The wasp Nasonia vitripennis has become the parasitoid model for genetic, ecological, developmental and behavioural research in biological control. The current state of its six-fold covered Sanger-sequenced genome is highly fragmented - due to its repetitive nature - and incomplete. Important candidate regions are not represented in the genome leading to limitations in the research of the parasitoid community. Using the latest sequencing techniques, combining long-read sequencing and optical mapping, we aim to dramatically renew the accuracy and contiguity of the N. vitripennis genome. This will provide a major stimulant to the research on insect genomics and biocontrol applications.

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