We stumbled on this list by Mick Watson on his blog opiniomics recently of ten things to consider when choosing a next-gen supplier. 

We agree with all his points, but this quote is particularly apt:

The big, fat elephant in the room is what I haven’t mentioned –price.  To be honest, if price is more important to you than any of the above issues, then you’re doing it wrong – step away from the science and come back when you’ve thought about it a little bit more.  Sure, price is important up to a point, no-one likes to be ripped off and we all love a bargain, but in my opinion, it comes a long way down the list compared to the issues mentioned above.

Because good science and good data is the highest priority, right?

Every Cofactor project is based on our process of build, measure, learn. Meaning you can be assured that we’re providing you with the right molecular, sequencing, and bioinformatic techniques. Delivered to you on your timeline. Over the last four years, we’ve learned a lot. We spend 20% of our scientists time and $1 Million a year on R&D so you don’t have to. And with thousands of samples sequence, we’ve seen projects of every shape and scope.

We take pride in not only the quality and value of our work, but also the way we work with each client during the process. Cofactor has a strong focus on communicating with our clients to both provide them the best project and keep them up-to-date on the status of their project. In fact, in a few weeks, we’re going to highlight our newest initiative to bring automated project tracking to ActiveSite. Moving it from a premier bioinformatics suite to a home for your project end-to-end.

So the next time you’re looking at doing a next-gen project. Keep in mind this list of things to consider. And be sure to check out our post on the Average Total Cost (ATC) of a sequencing run.