About Us
The Institute of Applied Genomics (IGA) is a private, non-profit centre for research in genetics, genomics and bioinformatics.
We deliver innovative solutions for agriculture and medical research. Visit our research projects in genome biology, bioinformatics, new breeding technologies, and personalised medicine.
Our mission has several goals:
- improve crops for the advancement of agriculture, forestry and the food industry
- explore genetic diversity and understand the basis of natural variation
- develop green biotechnologies
- raise public awareness of food safety and security
- use sequencing technologies and bioinformatics in support of medical teams
IGA was founded in 2006 by four scientists from the University of Udine. Initially, IGA focused on genome sequencing projects of crop species. The genome of grapevine, citrus, peach, olive, coffee and Norway spruce were sequenced and assembled at IGA as part of international collaborative projects.
With the revolution of NextGen sequencing technology, IGA has expanded its research into the fields of genetic diversity, genome biology, and other innovative solutions for agriculture. The range of plant species investigated has widened to include maize, barley, wheat, melons, sweet cherries, and the poplar and conifer species.
Since 2009, its subsidiary IGA-Tech offers customized services for NextGen Sequencing and Data Analysis in all living organisms and biological systems. The latest investments in technology and the involvement in flagship national projects put IGA at the forefront of metagenomics and epigenomics.
Founders
Michele Morgante
Raffaele Testolin
Alberto Policriti
Gabriele Di Gaspero
University of Udine
Scientific director
Michele Morgante
Board of Directors
Giuseppe Macino, President and Legal Representative
Alessandro Gasparetto, Vice President
Filippo Bianco (Friuli Innovazione)
Alberto Policriti (University of Udine)
Eugenio Sartori (Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo)
Raffaele Testolin (University of Udine)
Lab Manager
Federica Cattonaro
Headquarters and laboratories are located at the Luigi Danieli Science and Technology Park in Udine, North-Eastern Italy.
The wet lab facility is organized into three areas:
- Sample Preparation Laboratories
- RNA Laboratories
- Sequencing Laboratory
The Sequencing Lab is equipped with two Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencers and one Sanger sequencer ABI 3730XL.
The computational facility has units for data storage up to 300 TB and more than 200 cpu cores, organized into three areas:
Computing
Cpu cores are available on high-performance and power-efficient blade and rackmount servers
Virtualization hosts are fully redundant high-performance blade servers
Internal and external services (authentication, email, genome browsers, data sharing) are run on virtual machines
Storage
Scale-out storage cluster for genome databases (140 TB)
Storage systems used by virtualized system services (30TB)
High-speed storage for computation buffering of sequencing data (45TB)
High-capacity storage for sequence archives (120TB)
Backup storage system
Data and network security
Fully redundant 10Gbps internal network topology
Redundant firewalls with security and UTM services
IGA is a registered association according to national laws.
For public funding bodies, IGA is a private non-profit research organization.
To contact us for EU project proposals, according to EC Research and Innovation Participant Portal, IGA Legal status is private entity non-profit, IGA Legal category is association.
The subsidiary company IGA-Tech is a private SME.