Home | Microbial Analysis, Resources, and Services

MARS will be closed Dec 23-27. Happy Holidays!

Kendra is running a week long workshop on microbiome/amplicon analysis using mothur and R again, Dec 16-20. Participation limited to 15. If you have taken this workshop before and are interested in helping teach it, please let us know.

MARS welcomes our new tech Paulina!

MARS rates have changed as of the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1). See services page for details.

We have cleared out the backlog from Kendra's absence! Turn around times should be back to normal (see services page)

MARS welcomes our new tech Bailey!

Kendra is away from Mars till Feb 12 to spend time with a new baby! Response and processing times are longer than typical during this time.

Kendra is running a week long workshop on microbiome/amplicon analysis using mothur and R again, Dec 17-21. Participation limited to 15.

Kendra is offering a new short workshop. 2 day introduction to R and microbiome/ecology statistics. Aug 20-21, 2018

MARS welcomes our new tech Nicholas Hellmann to the team!

MARS has moved to the new Engineering and Sciences Building Rm 309.

Join us at CT Bioblitz 2017 in Greenwich. Kendra will have interactive data from last year's bioblitz.

Kendra is running a week long workshop on microbiome/amplicon analysis using mothur and R again this summer, Aug 21-25, 2017. Participation limited to 10.

MARS welcomes our new tech, Samantha Sanford! We wish Peter Cardoz well in his new position at Jax.

Join us for a 2 day workshop, Introduction to data visualization using R, Jan 12-13, 2017

Subscribe to our listserv for updates about MARS workshops, seminars, and instrument updates. mars-l@uconn.edu

MARS has moved to Beach Hall Rm 201. Come visit our new space!

Join us for our first week long workshop on microbiome/amplicon analysis using mothur and R, Aug 15-19, 2016. Participation limited to 10.

MARS rates have changed as of July 1

MARS is participating in the 2016 Bioblitz!

The White House issues call to action on microbiome research.

The Microbial Analyses, Resources, and Services (MARS) facility within the Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment at the University of Connecticut is a specialized next generation sequencing laboratory. MARS is a service lab focused on microbial community, amplicon, and small genome sequencing as well providing the UConn research community access to our fully equipped molecular laboratory. MARS is equipped with standard molecular biological equipment, including thermal cyclers, centrifuges, single and multichannel micropipettors, water baths, incubators, refrigerators and freezers for sample and reagent storage. The sample processing laboratory also containsb a dedicated room with a biosafety hood for handling raw samples up to BSL2 which is primarily used to prepare samples for DNA/RNA extraction. Equipment available for use includes Synergy HT plate reader (fluorescence and absorbance), Quibit 4.0, QiAxcel nucleic acid fragment analyzer, BioRad qpcr, Covaris M220 ultra-sonicator, QiAgility liquid handling robot, epMotion 5075 TMX liquid handling robot (single and 8 channel pipetting from 0.1ul 1000ul), and an Illumina MiSeq sequencer. MARS offers training on all instrumentation for users interested in unsupervised use of any equipment as well as fee-for-service sample processing. MARS offers bioinformatic and statistical support for microbiome analysis as workshops to train users as well as fee-for-service custom analyses.