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Events Monday 13 February 2012 , 3:00 PM Marley Bldg., Room 230 Ultra-high-throughput microbial ecology: software, sequencing and practice for studying tens of thousands of environments Dr. Greg Caporaso Assistant Professor of BioinformaticsNorthern Arizona University Abstract: Microbial ecology is an exciting and rapidly growing area of biology, with almost weekly publications in Science, Nature, PNAS, and even popular literature sources such as The New York Times. This field also exemplifies the increasingly data-intensive nature of modern Biology: a single study can easily generate greater than 80 gigabytes of raw sequence data and is therefore multidisciplinary by requirement. In this talk I will present my recent work on increasing the scale on which microbial ecology is possible, both in terms of breadth (the types of communities that can be profiled in high-throughput) and depth (the amount of data that can feasibly be collected and analyzed). In particular I will talk about my work on the QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology; www.qiime.org) software package and on developing a community sequencing protocol for the Illumina sequencing technologies. These tools have made it possible to increase the scale of these studies by about 2000x in just two years without increasing the cost per sequence. I will conclude by presenting several projects that illustrate what is possible in ultra-high-throughput microbial ecology: for example, a timeseries analysis of the human microbiome for up to 18 months. |
SWES in the News SWES SOUNDS The Department Newsletter UANow Top news from the University of Arizona Kartchner Caverns: A Living Microbe Laboratory (Raina Maier) By Alan Fischer February 24, 2010 Learning about sustainability goes outside classroom activities for some University of Arizona students. On a recent Saturday morning students from the Soil, Water and Environmental Science (SWES) 454 class could be found working out at the new Campus Recreation Center. Not working out in the sense of exercising indoors, but working outdoors moving rocks and shoveling and spreading gravel to make rainwater harvesting more efficient at the site on East Sixth Street. more > Prep Students Learn About Water Usage Through UA Project (Jim Riley) Local Media Raina Maier is interviewed by KVOA tv. Posted 2:40 AM 7/7/2011 : News 4 investigates toxic water in Tucson SWES Research on YouTube --UofAZCALS's Channel Charles Gerba Apr 9, 2009 Finding efficient, cost effective ways to purify water is the goal of specialists at The University of Arizonas Environmental Research Lab. Researchers are developing and assessing water disinfection systems that help to remove microbes from drinking water. These water treatment units are designed for use by the military, campers and countries where thousands of people die each year from drinking unsafe water View > Other News Kathy Jacobs was elected to serve as a member of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Board of Trustees. To see the full article go to the The Institute of the Environment website page http://www.environment.arizona.edu/news/jacobs_ucar |