About BioAnalysis.ca

Why it exists

Sequencing a microbiome has become routine and affordable. Analyzing it has not: a standard 16S study still means installing QIIME 2 or R packages, choosing truncation lengths, debugging primer and merge problems, and writing statistics code, often by a student learning bioinformatics on the job. Many labs wait weeks for a bioinformatician or send their data to services outside Canada.

BioAnalysis.ca automates that work with the same established tools an experienced analyst would choose, and explains every result. Sequencing data is processed and stored on servers in Canada.

How the pipelines are built

• Established tools only. Cutadapt, DADA2, SILVA, UNITE, PICRUSt2 and ANCOM-BC2 for amplicons; fastp, Kraken2, SPAdes, Bakta and AMRFinderPlus for genomes. No proprietary black boxes.
• Fail loudly, not silently. The pipeline checks that primers are present, that R1 and R2 are not swapped, and that reads can still merge after truncation, and stops with a clear reason instead of producing a misleading report.
• Everything recorded. Each report lists the tool versions, databases and parameters used for that run, so results can be reproduced and described in a methods section.
• Tested. Pipeline checks are covered by automated tests. Accuracy validation against the ZymoBIOMICS mock community, whose composition is known, is in progress, and the results will be published here.

Who it is for

Microbiology and microbiome researchers in universities, hospitals and industry, core facilities that want to offer analysis alongside sequencing, and students who need trustworthy results for a thesis. It is for research use only and is not a clinical diagnostic service.

Contact

BioAnalysis.ca is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Reach us at [email protected], or see all contacts.