FAQ

These are some of our more Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If there's a question that you have that isn't answered on this page, please contact Technical Support or email to support@genecodes.com.

General

Q: What is the current version of Sequencher?

The current release of Sequencher and Forensic-enabled Sequencher is version 5.1. If you are currently using an older version and would like to upgrade, please contact us.

Q: How often do you release new versions of Sequencher?

We release at least one new Windows and Mac upgrade of Sequencher each year.

Q: Does Sequencher work with 64 bit processors?

In general, the answer is yes. Sequencher 4.10.1 and later versions will automatically install 64 bit drivers on 64 bit operating systems. Versions of Sequencher prior to 4.10.1 will not install any drivers on 64 bit operating systems. Please download and install the 64 bit compatible drivers.

Q: Can I open data from an automated sequencer in Sequencher?

One of the reasons that Sequencher is so popular is its display of data from automated sequencers. You can view both individual chromatogram files and aligned chromatogram files in Sequencher. If a file that you have from an automated sequencer does not open in Sequencher, please Contact Technical Support.

Q: How do I purchase Sequencher?

Sequencher is available directly from Gene Codes Corporation. You can contact us in the following ways:

Call us at 1.800.497.4939 (in the US), or +1.734.769.7249 (outside the US)
Email us at gcinfo@genecodes.com, or
Fax us at +1.734.769.7074 and we will refer you to the sales representative for your area.

You may use either a purchase order or a credit card.

You can also purchase Sequencher from one of our International Distributors as well.

Q: Can I get a copy of Sequencher for evaluation before I buy?

Yes. A demo version of Sequencher is available. Just fill out the Demo Download Form and you'll be given a confirmation page to download the demo free of charge.

It has all the latest features and you can try it with your own sequence data. However, copying data into other applications, saving, exporting, viewing reports, and printing are all disabled in the demo version.

Q: Are there any Sequencher training courses or tutorials?

Many of our users find Sequencher so intuitive that training rarely becomes a question. However, you can extract much more power from Sequencher if you become more familiar with a broader range of features and functionality that it can offer. If you have any questions about how to accomplish something in Sequencher, we encourage you to contact us at technical support. We also provide tools for more independent exploration of Sequencher.

The Sequencher Help includes a searchable version of the user manual. The Help is context sensitive, so whenever you execute a Help command from within Sequencher, you will open an HTML page that addresses questions related to where you are in the program. Search tools navigate you through Help for information on specific topics, and the Appendix contains a glossary and other tools to make your use of Sequencher more powerful and efficient.

On this Web Site you will also find the Tour Guide, which walks you through much of Sequencher’s core functionality; such as converting auto-sequencing files to an assembled and edited contig.

We also provide you with several PDF Tutorials with sample data. Each tutorial focuses on a particular aspect of your workflow. You may want to start with the Trimming Sequence and Assembly Strategies tutorials and then move on to the Reference Sequence and Quality Scores tutorials. The Assemble by Name tutorial will introduce you to these powerful functions. We also have a tutorial specific for mitochondrial analysis.

Sequencher training options include internet-based training, where you work closely with a Sequencher expert on your specific sequence analysis questions while you share a desktop. Finally, Gene Codes also offers on-site training, which can be adapted to suit the needs of your organization. Please contact gcinfo@genecodes.com for details on price and scheduling.

Q: Are you the Sole Source provider of this software in the United States?

Yes, and we can provide you with a letter stating this on request.

Hardware - Windows Users

Q: What are the computer hardware requirements to run Sequencher on Windows?

The minimal requirements to run Sequencher on Windows is 150MB of free hard disk space and 512MB of memory.

Q: Does Sequencher work with Windows 8, Windows 7 & Vista?

Sequencher 5.1 does work with Windows 8, Windows 7 & Vista. If you currently have Sequencher 4.7 or under, please upgrade to 5.1 for complete Windows compatibility.

Questions

We would love to hear from you! Please give us a call at 734-769-7249 or fill out our contact form here.

Request a Demo

"Sequencher is not just the best sequence analysis program I have used; it is one of the best pieces of software I have used. Period. It is intuitive; it does exactly what I want it to do in pretty much the way I would expect it to work. "

Wilson Clements, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

"I am involved in resequencing projects for disease association studies. Sequencher was of tremendous help to me in these projects for- discovery of SNPs, detection of known SNPs, intronic/exonic SNPs & amino acid changing SNPs. I have been using it for sequence analysis of ABI data files since 2000. It is easy to operate and user friendly. It was a pleasure to be involved in the beta test program for version 4.6. What I liked in this new version is assembly function & variance table. Assemble to reference by defining assembly parameters using advance expression feature is very useful, it saves a lot of time and sequences can be assembled by defining feature of your choice e.g. sample ID, primer ID, or well position etc. Technical Support group at the Gene Codes Corporation has been very receptive to the idea of introducing variance table. With this feature it is now possible to export genotypes. Using this feature I am not only able to export whole table but also selected few columns using “export selected” option button. "

Manjula Maheshwari, Human Genome Sequencing Center Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas

" Sequencher 4.10.1 contains a new feature that keeps track of protein and cDNA numbering in DNA assemblies. This ability greatly simplifies the task of comparing your experimental data to a genomic DNA reference when looking for mutations or other changes. This feature alone reinforces Sequencher as one of the premier tools for sequence analysis. "

David Adams, M.D Ph.D Clinical Investigator and Sequencher 4.10.1 beta tester

"Thank you for sending the demo version of Sequencher. This seems to be wonderful software for phylogenetic and mutation studies. It clearly indicates start and stop codons in DNA sequences. Sequencher is easy to use and allowed us to quickly align sequences from various individuals. This software is very user friendly, and the instruction manual is very informative. The contig assembly tool is quite amazing in its speedy and time saving functions, which are the requirements for researchers in the biochemical field. I really got exited by running this software. "

Dr V.R.C. Murty, Department of Chemical Engineering Manipal Institute of Technology

"I am very satisfied with how sequencher handles heterozygous calls in autosomal sequencing and potential heteroplasmies in mitochondrial resequencing. I found the forensics addon package for the general forensics community to be very helpful! "

Eric Wang, Ph.D Statistical Geneticist, Algorithm Development and Data Analysis Affymetrix, Inc.

"I just wanted to let you know how much the modifications to Sequencher have assisted in our data flow. The time saving has been amazing. Assembling our data has taken third the time it usually does, and has allowed for the smoothest assembly of our data for a vaccine selection that I can remember. Additionally noteworthy as we have produced more data for this selection than ever before. Please let your programmers know that the work that they have done has truly helped and thank them for their efforts. "

An Associate Research Fellow, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"The most popular request I receive in the DNA core lab is: find the good clone among this group of 'candidate' minipreps. Alignment of ABI data files against a 'reference' sequence (template file) quickly eliminates defectives by showing not only base changes but the consequences to the protein translation. The second most popular request is: validate this new maxiprep so it can be given to ... or used for ... or expressed in ... Rapid assembly and editing of total plasmid sequence and then comparison to the reference file on record is all done in Sequencher. The third most popular request is: compare this library of (protein improvement) mutants and tell me which ones have protein changes. This is done by alignment in Sequencher and then formatting the Summary view to display the resulting changes in protein translation. For my own projects, I use Sequencher as a very general multiple-alignment sequence editor. Most recently, I've been using it to make comparisons of genes retrieved from the databases for cross-species cDNA cloning. Showing regions of homology at the protein level and then having the colinear DNA sequence presented in the same view (Summary window) helps find regions suitable for primer design. Turning on the Matching Bases/Residues as Dashes quickly shows regions of homology and divergence. I design primers to either or both depending on the project. "

Dean Regier, Research Scientist DNA core laboratories

"After using Sequencher for years as a grad student, I was forced to switch to MacVector as a postdoc in a new lab. Sequencher is so much easier to use than MacVector and has such a superior interface that I used the demo version of Sequencher for months rather than the lab copy of MacVector. Sequencher feels as though it is written by biologists that can write software, rather than programmers attempting to write biological software. Any life scientist who has spent time pulling their hair out over non-intuitive software will greatly appreciate this distinction. "

Dave Parker, University Of Michigan Cell And Developmental Biology

"I have been involved in DNA sequencing projects since I got my masters degree in bioinformatics in 2002. The programs I used for sequences analysis included Vector NTI from Invitrogen, PhredPhrap, Lasergene from DNAStar, and Sequencher. Sequencher is my favorite program not only because of its powerful SNP analysis functions but also because it is very easy to use and user friendly. I would like to recommend Sequencher to people who are doing SNP research projects and/or responsible for training students and colleagues who are going to do genotyping work. "

Zongying Xi, MD/MS, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences St Jude Children's Research Hospital

"Whether it has been for building contigs in the search for novel causative mutations, verifying proper vector construction, or simply aligning large numbers of samples for typing of a single SNP, it has been an invaluable tool. With the advent of next generation sequencing technologies, it becomes even more necessary to have trustworthy, user-friendly software. "

Rob Loechel, Chief Scientific Officer, Vetgen, L.L.C.