Abstract The supplemental funding will allow the purchase of an Oxford Nanopore sequencer to enable the Bracht laboratory to complete the aims of the parent award. The sequencing technology is critical given that 45 separate RNA samples must be sequenced and outsourcing the work is costly in both time and money. The Nanopore technology provides long, highly accurate reads enabling many exciting applications both for the parent award and beyond. The supplemental funding would provide a transformative technology, given there is currently no genomic sequencers available at American University; furthermore, there is no Nanopore technology available in the entire DC metro region containing at least five additional research universities beyond AU. This supplement would therefore fill a regional gap in technological availability, benefitting multiple universities and empowering the unique research conducted at American University: highly interdisciplinary, undergraduate-engaged and with a high engagement of under-represented students. Students and faculty alike would greatly benefit from the availability of a transformative Nanopore sequencer at AU. 1