28-APR-2016
By JCVI Staff

Durban Microbiome Workshop

As part of our continued effort to bring genomics to other communities, Alex Voorhies, Derek Harkins and Andres Gomez traveled to Durban, South Africa to lead a series of workshops on microbiome data analyses. The two days of presentations were made to students, postdocs and faculty at the Durban University of Technology, and was co-sponsored by the NIAID funded JCVI Genomic Center for Infectious Disease. On day one, the JCVI team provided an introductory lecture on microbiomes and technical considerations to plan and conduct microbiome related projects. The lecture followed up with an introduction to sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools to analyze 16S rRNA next generation sequencing data. The day one session ended up with a lecture on the differences between metagenomics and 16S rRNA sequencing and analyses pipelines and one on one advising with students and faculty on how to analyze and plan their own projects.

On day two the JCVI team provided a hands-on tutorial where students analyzed a time series of mouse microbiome data. Students learned each step of working with a 16S rRNA dataset, from processing raw reads to statistical analysis and figure generation. The morning started with a practical exercise processing 16S reads using mothur to assign taxonomic classification. In the afternoon students used the output from the mothur workshop to learn about analyzing data in R. Students explored alpha and beta diversity as well as indicator species analysis and statistical significance of their findings. The hands-on workshop concluded with various ways to display 16S microbiome data in publication quality figures.

The students were very enthusiastic and active participants in the lectures and hands on units. It is our sincere hope that the workshop helps them to expand their research and data analysis capabilities in the future.

Our hosts, Drs. Suren Singh and Nokuthula Mchunu, sent along nice messages in appreciation for the event:

Have no words to pass the amount of appreciation the student and the supervisors had for the workshop. Andres, Derek and Alex were fantastic in the delivery of the material and having time to address every question we were asking. We hope that we can have another sometime in the future and if we had choice we would pick them. Thank you again.

- Dr. Nokuthula Mchunu

Thank you for sending out a wonderful, and extremely knowledgeable team to ignite one of many workshops at DUT. It was truly a great exposure for many of my students and staff. They enjoyed the theoretical and hands on sessions alike. Let's continue this association for many more years ahead.

- Dr. Suren Singh