Master the microbiome: microbiome standards, long-read sequencing, metagenome assembly and profiling
Microbiome standards are imperative for profiling and analyzing microbial communities. In many cases, a lack of proper controls or comparison to microbiome reference materials means that important and high-impact conclusions cannot be reproduced or reliably compared to similar datasets.
In this webinar, scientists from Zymo Research and PacBio will discuss the different types of microbiome standards, how they are used, how to select the appropriate control and examples of how they have been used in long-read sequencing to benchmark microbial profiling and metagenome assembly.
What will you learn?
- The different categories of microbiome standards and controls and how they are used in microbial genomics
- How to use microbial mock communities and reference samples to benchmark
- The advantages of long-read sequencing for metagenome profiling and metagenome-assembled genome assembly
Who may this interest?
- Researchers and scientists working in the fields of microbiology, genomics, metagenomics, and biotechnology
- Clinical diagnostic and medical professionals interested in infectious disease microbiology
- Biotech and pharmaceutical companies interested in microbial genomics and microbiomics
Panelists
Kris Locken
Research Scientist, Zymo Research
Kris Locken is a molecular microbiologist focused on developing and creating educational resources on microbiome standards and controls at Zymo Research (CA, USA). He has a Master’s degree in microbiology and a BSc in molecular cell biology from California State University, Long Beach (CA, USA) where he studied Ustilago maydis, the causative agent of ‘the delightful blight’, which causes edible tumors on corn called huitlacoches that can be harvested and used inside quesadillas and have the taste of corny mushrooms. Subsequently, he characterized 15 antibiotic-hypersensitive mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and determined their role in molecular transport.
Prior to joining the microbiome team at Zymo Research in 2019, he was the Quality Control Manager at two different medical device manufacturing facilities. He enjoys talking about microbiology and how cool microbes are.
Jeremy Wilkinson
Senior Staff Specialist, Microbial Genomics, PacBio
Jeremy Wilkinson is the Segment Lead for Microbial Genomics at PacBio (CA, USA). He has a PhD in environmental toxicology with a focus on microbiome analysis from Texas Tech University (TX, USA), a Master’s degree in zoology with a focus on phylogenetics from Oklahoma State University (OK, USA), and a BSc in biochemistry and molecular biology with a minor in microbiology from Oklahoma State University (OK, USA).
Jeremy came to PacBio around 2 years ago from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (MA, USA), where he was the Director of the Microbiome Analysis Core and a Research Scientist in the Department of Biostatistics in the Huttenhower Lab for 4 years. Before that he was at RTL Genomics (TX, USA), a next-generation sequencing laboratory that specializes in microbiome sequencing and analysis, where he worked for 6 years and was most recently the Director of Operations and Senior Biostatistician.
This webinar was recorded on September 13, 2023.
In association with
