Metagenomics for pathogen surveillance

What will you learn?

• How to extract nucleic acids and prepare sequencing libraries
• An understanding of the technical performance, limitations and quality control requirements for metagenomic sequencing
• An overview of the bioinformatic analysis workflow, as well as the challenges and methods associated with bioinformatic analysis of complex samples
• The benefits of Oxford Nanopore sequencing to enhance your pathogen surveillance capabilities

Who this may interest?

• Researchers, microbiologists, pathogen surveillance enthusiasts

Speakers

Anna Maria Niewiadomska

Segment market manger – public health

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (UK)

In her role as segment market manager, Anna drives the development of new markets in the infectious disease and public health space. She received her PhD in molecular microbiology and immunology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (MD, USA). Prior to joining Oxford Nanopore, Anna worked on multiple projects focusing on host/virus interactions, mathematical modeling of antimicrobial resistance, microbial bioinformatics and emerging infectious disease outbreaks. She combines a deep knowledge of experimental and in silico methods for generation and analysis of microbial genomic data.

Alex Trotter

Development scientist – translational development

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (UK)

As part of translational development in Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Alex works on prototyping and developing clinical applications of nanopore technology in the infection space. His background is in infection diagnostics and his PhD was on the application of nanopore sequencing to the rapid identification of prosthetic joint infection through metagenomics. Following that, Alex worked as part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) using sequencing to track SARS-CoV2 variants at the Quadram Institute in Norwich (UK), before moving to Oxford Nanopore.

Natalia Garcia

Bioinformatics software developer

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (UK)

As a bioinformatics workflow developer in the customer workflow team, Natalia creates and maintains workflows that help non-expert users to reliably analyze their data with minimal training. Oxford Nanopore’s open-source workflows, implemented using Nextflow, allow life science researchers to go from raw reads to informative reports designed to help them make the most of their data. In particular, she is focused on the analysis of microbial communities through metagenomics data. Before joining Oxford Nanopore in 2023, she worked on microbial ecology at the Microbiome Analysis Laboratory in the Spanish National Biotechnology Center (Madrid, Spain).