STRENGTHENING THE NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING AND BIOINFORMATICS CAPACITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Bioinformatics was established at the IMGGE in collaboration with the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and with the support of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The Center was founded with the aim of accelerating the implementation of 4P medicine (Preventive, Predictive, Personalized, and Participatory), in our country by using the cutting-edge tools of molecular biology and information technology. As such, the center is unique in Serbia and the South East Europe region. The state-of-the-art equipment existing at the Center (DNBSEQ-G400 (BGI), NextSeq 550Dx, 2000 and MiSeq (Illumina) Sequencing Systems; MinION (OxfordNanopore); MGISP-9600 High-throughput Automated Sample Preparation System) offered a wide range of application: the whole genome and whole exome sequencing, targeted sequencing, transcriptome sequencing and more. The analysis of data was facilitated by the access to the National Platform for Artificial Intelligence providing space for secure data storage, and to a supercomputer (Nvidia), critical for processing and analyzing Big Data. Since its establishment more than 2000 SARS-CoV2 genomes were sequenced, 300 patient samples undervent diagnostic work-up. Pilot project for NIFTYPro screening was finished encompasing 58 pregnant women. First transcriptomes and metagenomes were analyzed. Further implementation of NGS methodology in research and for diagnostics, and intensive development of bioinformatics, by strengthening the hardware and software capacities and the education of the bioinformatics team, will lead us in becoming driving force of the development of biomedicine and biotechnology in Serbia, extending collaboration beyond our borders.