Postgraduate Course: Metagenomics (BITE11004)
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, instruction in sampling and experimental design via a field excursion, laboratory training in DNA extraction, amplification, next-generation sequencing and qPCR, and subsequent data analysis using state-of-the-art bioinformatics pipelines. |
| 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 explore and exploit 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 from a natural, engineered or host environment for a semester-long research project. These samples will be analysed in the lab by metataxonomic Illumina sequencing-based techniques, metagenomic single-molecule sequencing and qPCR to characterise the organisms, genes and functions within them, answer our primary research questions 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 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| 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) |
100% in-course assessment:
Report 1 - Summary and methods section (30%)
Report 2 - Contract Research Report (70%) |
| Feedback |
Individual written feedback, class oral and written feedback plus model answer for assignment 1.
Individual written feedback for assignment 2. |
| 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 experiments can be designed, sampled and analysed using molecular techniques in order to investigate microbial communities and genes with statistical power.
- Understand the basis of next-generation sequencing technologies and how to apply them to marker gene and metagenomic analysis.
- Report experimental methods in the style of a research paper.
- Be able to select, interpret and present experimental data to produce a report on a programme of contract research.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
DNA extraction and PCR amplification under clean conditions.
Preparation of samples for next-generation DNA sequencing.
qPCR of marker gene abundances.
Analysis of next-generation marker gene sequence data using bioinformatics pipelines.
Assembly and annotation of next-generation metagenome sequence data.
Statistical analysis of diversity measures and differential abundance. |
| Keywords | Metagenomics,16S rRNA,Illumina,Nanopore,qPCR |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Free
Tel: (0131 6)50 5338
Email: Andrew.Free@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Karen Sutherland
Tel: (0131 6)50 8649
Email: Karen.Sutherland@ed.ac.uk |
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