BIT 495/595 Microbiomes – From Sampling to Community Analysis
Overview:
In this course students will analyze insect microbiomes using Illumina amplicon sequencing. The course project will include hypothesis generation, sample collection, DNA extraction, PCR, Next-Gen amplicon library preparation, and amplicon sequencing. Students will learn the theory and methods behind genomic sequencing and microbiome community analysis and will generate and analyze their own data. The course will focus on bacterial community analysis but will provide the skills and knowledge needed to perform similar experiments on other organisms.
Lecture Topics:
- Introduction to microbiomes and microbiome research
- Experimental design
- Reading and citing scientific literature
- Hypothesis generation
- Sample collection and storage procedures
- DNA extraction methods and techniques
- DNA library preparation
- Overview of sequencing technologies
- Illumina sequencing overview and hands on training
- Bacterial community analysis with Qiime2
- Data visualization and interpretation
- Communication of scientific results