Hands-on metagenomics using Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing
Doctoral School of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University
Welcome to Hands-on metagenomics using Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing
Description: Microbial communities underpin all processes in the environment and have a direct impact on human health. However, despite their importance, only a tiny fraction of the millions of different microbes is known. This is mainly due to the immense difficulties of cultivating microbes from natural systems in the laboratory.
The field of metagenomics, where DNA is used to study organisms in complex systems, has seen rapid development for many years and together with the last decade of massive improvements in long read DNA sequencing technologies in terms of yield and read quality it has reached a state where getting complete genomes from many organisms is no longer just a dream.
The cheap sequencing platforms provided by Oxford Nanopore Technologies have disrupted the sequencing market with easy access to long read real-time DNA sequencing everywhere enabling more people to analyze the metagenomic information of complex samples.
In this course, the participants will learn to use nanopore based DNA sequencing combined with advanced metagenome binning techniques to discover novel species, recover high quality genomes from complex metagenomes and link extra chromosomal elements using methylation profiles. Hence, overcoming the cultivation bias directly and participants can begin their journey towards addressing global challenges such as climate change and antibiotic resistance.
The course includes hands-on DNA library preparation, and sequencing using the nanopore platform. The obtained data is subsequently used for hands-on bioinformatics including metagenome assembly, binning and genome annotation.
Prerequisites:
- Basic knowledge of DNA
- Basic knowledge of bioinformatics Evaluation:
Students will deliver a detailed presentation of their individual work as well as the work from the group assignments.
For additional information, updates, and registration, please refer to AAU PhD Moodle via the link provided on the right side of this page.