The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative 2020-21 boot camp series will introduce participants to a new analytical workflow and web-based visual tools to study and investigate the microbiome.
Workshop II in the series is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This one-day Zoom workshop welcomes the campus—from trainees to faculty—to learn microbiome fundamentals and engage in hands-on introductory analyses using both simple command-line programming as well as the easy-to-use web-based MicrobiomeAnalyst. The workshop is designed for students, trainees, researchers and clinicians who wish to incorporate microbiome sampling into their research, and it assumes little prior knowledge of microbiomes, computer coding or next-generation sequencing. (Command-line experience is advantageous but not required.) New and previous participants of the microbiome boot camp are welcome to register and learn the web-based tools in this second workshop.
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will understand the factors that go into designing a microbiome study. Hands-on tutorials will provide participants with the confidence to take raw sequencing data through command-line quality control and processing; to test fundamental biological or clinical hypotheses with easy-to-use web-based tools; and to critically interpret results. Further, participants may gain an appreciation of the ethical implications of microbiome research in humans and have a better understanding of VMI-related microbiome resources available both within and outside of Vanderbilt.
All academic and professional ranks are welcome to register, from undergraduates to faculty. To register, send your name, title, school and department to Rob Markowitz, robert.h.markowitz@vanderbilt.edu, to receive a pre-course survey and confirmation.
For more information, visit the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative website, or email microbiome@vanderbilt.edu.