Postgraduate Course: Metagenomic Analysis of Microbial Communities (BITE11001)
Course Outline
| School | School of Biological Sciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The course will provide lecture-based instruction in the field of metagenomic analysis, practical instruction in contamination-free environmental sediment sampling via a field excursion using state-of-the-art bioinformatics packages. |
| Course description |
Recent developments in the culture-independent analysis of organisms and genes from a wide range of natural environments have provided an unprecedented opportunity for biotechnology to tap into the vast diversity of the biosphere. The development of metagenomic techniques allows researchers and industry to access novel, useful functions from previously untapped resources. but also poses problems related to large-scale data analysis and screening methodologies. This course will introduce students to the concepts and potential of metagenomics, before undertaking sampling to obtain microbial communities form a variety of natural and engineered environments. These samples will then be analysed in the lab by metataxonomic Illumina sequencing-based techniques and metagenomic single-molecule sequencing to characterise the organisms, genes and functions within them and explore their potential for biotechnology.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 32 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 33,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
65 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Report 1 - Summary and methods section (30%)«br /»
Report 2 - Contract Research Report (70%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate advanced knowledge of the importance of gene-mining and metagenomics to biotechnology
- Understand how environmental samples can be collected and analysed in order to investigate their potential for the isolation of novel organisms and functions
- Know how to analyse an environmental sample using molecular techniques to detect novel microbial communities, species and gene function
- Understand the basis of next-generation sequencing technologies and how to apply them to marker gene and metagenomic analysis
- Be able to produce a report from in the style of a final report on a programme of contract research
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
PCR and whole-genome amplification under clean conditions.
Preparation of samples for next-generation DNA sequencing.
DNA fingerprinting of marker genes.
Cloning and Sanger sequencing of environmental DNA fragments.
Analysis of next-generation marker gene sequence data using bioinformatics pipelines.
Assembly and annotation of next-generation metagenome sequence data.
Functional prediction of metagenomic potential from marker gene surveys.
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| Keywords | Metagenomics,Microbial |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Free
Tel: (0131 6)50 5338
Email: Andrew.Free@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Andrea Nichol
Tel: (0131 6)50 8643
Email: Andrea.Nichol@ed.ac.uk |
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