Summer School on Applied Meta-Omics
Discovery of bioactive molecules, and therefore new drug leads, is a driver for pharmaceutical research. With the ever-expanding methodological development in DNA sequencing and computational methods to analyse complex mass spectrometry data, targeted natural product identification has become more accessible but computationally more complex.
In recent years the terms “Meta” and “Omics” have become buzz words in the analysis of a totality of a sample with the highest capacity of any analytical method available. Both of these aspects result in large amounts of data, for which the processing methods are not always straight-forward. Early-career researchers interested in leveraging these methods to enhance their research output often go through multiple trial rounds to ensure proper analyses of their data.
Our summer school aims to empower doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers with an Omics skillset focussed on metagenomics, metabolomics and high-throughput discovery pipelines. Through seminars on theoretical background and hands-on workshops, participants will gain an invaluable toolbox of methodologies to strengthen their research projects.
Keynote seminar speakers:
Jörn Piel (ETH Zürich) and his group study bacterial natural products and their origin as well as their activities as potential therapeutics. By studying the biosynthesis of these metabolites, the group provides a foundation from which synthetic biology approaches can be developed to generate natural product mimics.
Nicola Zamboni (ETH Zürich) and his team focus on data-driven strategies for mass spectrometry and fluorescence microscopy-based metabolomics. They are interested in method development for analysis of metabolomics data.
external pageJustin van der Hooft’s (Wageningen University) research on computational metabolomics is closing the gap between the data obtained in metabolomics experiments and the conclusions one can gain from it. He and his group members are employing these approaches to complex environmental samples and plant microbiomes.
external pageAshootosh Tripathi (University of Michigan) employs high throughput techniques to identify novel drug leads from microbial cultures. They harness the complete biosynthetic potential of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters, while also applying unique target-based approaches to isolate new drug candidates.
external pageSerina Robinson (Eawag Zurich) and her team members are interested in the application of multi-omic datasets and how they can be leveraged to characterize functions in microbial biotransformations. Using a combination of metagenome mining, machine learning and experimental approaches, they characterize enzymes and pathways for pollutant biodegradation.
external pageNadine Ziemert (University of Tuebingen) develops computational methods to mine microbial genomes for their potential to produce natural products. Such compounds find a variety of applications as drug-candidates, but her group primarily focuses on antibiotics.
external pageRoland Kersten and his group use a combination of activity- and genome-guided approaches to discover new bioactive molecules from plants. Their workflow includes bioinformatics, mass spectrometry (proteomics and metabolomics), transcriptomics, and synthetic biology to elucidate the biosyntheses of therapeutically-relevant plant metabolites.
Field trip to UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch
The biosphere reserve in Entlebuch is a prime location for the discovery and preservation of biodiversity.
Our field trip here will pair well with the Summer School materials focused on metagenomic methodologies for deciphering the composition of complex environmental samples.
In addition to a guided excursion, the course participants will hear a seminar featuring the organization, ongoing projects, and research areas at the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch from the scientific co-ordinator Florian Knaus.
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This project is financially supported by Movetia. Movetia promotes exchange, mobility and cooperation within the fields of education, training and youth work – in Switzerland, Europe and worldwide. www.movetia.ch
ROCHE Research Education and Development in Switzerland (REDS) Fund
