Today I met with the Scientific Coordinator of the UW Center for Genome Sciences. They're interested in entering into a collaboration with us, but it would be strictly on the sequencing side of the project. They haven't built the kind of automated annotation tools that IG has been offering. Yet, because they are a not-for-profit University cost center, this part of the proposal might end up quite a bit cheaper. We'd then have to either complete the annotation manually, (a lot of BLAST searches!), or subcontract this part out, again with a company like IG. I'm very interested in getting a budget proposal from them.

A few hours later, a bid came from the former IG associates that are now part of what they call the FIG (I won't write what that stands for as I'm not sure they're public yet). Good solid proposal, but higher than what IG came in at. All in all, while I would like the idea of the sequencing taking place a 15 minute walk away from work, IG with its one-stop shopping (we think) may still be the best way to go. In a long conversaton with G today, one thing we wish is to visit the company to be convinced that they are not going to close up shop. We have one shot to get this right!