I NTOMED and ARISTO Course on Bioinformatic Analysis

Two EU projects, INTOMED (PRIMA project https://intomed.bio.uth.gr) and ARISTO (MSCA-ITN-EID-H2020, https://aristo.bio.uth.gr) join forces in providing a training course in bioinformatic analysis of amplicon sequencing data. During the workshop, the students will be introduced to past and current methodologies for studying environmental microbial diversity, building the case around the need for high throughput sequencing of phylogenetic marker gene amplicons (currently, commonly referred as “metabarcoding” methodology) in such studies. A thorough description of all necessary steps for designing and performing microbial diversity analysis with metabarcoding will be provided. Students will also be introduced to computational tools of the field of big-data science, like the R programming/statistical environment, necessary for handling the volume of sequencing data generated in such approaches. Then, they will be walked through strategies in statistical analysis, suitable for extracting important and reliable information from “noisy” environmental datasets. Finally, the students will obtain hands on experience with the aforementioned tools and statistical strategies that will facilitate the design and execution of their future experiments.

Cost?
No fees apply

Physical presence or remote?
The workshop will be done with physical presence of the participants (12 positions). Positions
for remote participation are also available (12 positions)

Who is this course for?

Young/not‐so‐young (Molecular) Microbial Ecology and Environmental Microbiology
researchers.

What will I learn?

‐ Familiarize with basic and advanced concepts of diversity analysis with metabarcoding
‐ Obtain basic knowledge about the R platform
‐ Be able to use R for performing all necessary quality control and bioinformatics steps during the processing of metabarcoding data
‐ Be able to perform basic descriptive statistical analysis on metabarcoding datasets
‐ Comprehend important strategies for winnowing primary datasets to shake‐ off environmental noise and extract important for phenotypic traits microbial taxa

What resources do I need?

Laptop, internet connection (will be provided), positive mood, will to learn methods in molecular microbial ecology

Course Format
Theoretical modules
Computational analysis

Programme
Apr 20 th Background on microbiome analysis with high metabarcoding & R/RStudio basics
Apr 21 st R/RStudio basics hands on, and hands on at microbiome analysis with R
Apr 22 nd Microbiome analysis with R (hands on continue)
Apr 23 rd (break... for the tutor only)
Apr 24 th Microbiome analysis with R (hands on and wrapping up)

Organisers/Trainers
Sotirios Vasileiadis
Email: sovasileiadis (at) uth.gr

Link for registration can be found:
https://intomed.bio.uth.gr/primer‐on‐microbiome‐analysis/