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Genomics is a rapidly developing field of research. It is increasingly weaving its way into everyday life, from playing a role in vaccine development, virus tracking, personalised cancer treatments, unveiling family histories, solving crime, to tackling the planet’s fragile ecosystems. There are a wide range of career opportunities in this field, some that didn’t even exist several years ago. Across three immersive days, you will learn and experience the end-to-end process of how we translate DNA into data.
The packed programme of activities will include, talks on the latest cutting-edge science taking place at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, lab tours, hands-on experiences with wet lab techniques, such as DNA Extraction, PCR, and DNA sequencing, as well as training with bioinformatics tools. You will also get the opportunity to meet a range of different staff working in genomics.
The Genome Academy is open to year 12 students who are interested in working in the field of biomedical research.
The Genome Academy 2024 is running between Tuesday 20 – Thursday 22 August, 10am-4pm.
- Day 1: Tuesday 20th August (Barcoding project)
- Day 2: Wednesday 21st August (Barcoding project and sequencing)
- Day 3: Thursday 22nd August (Other projects and ethics)
| Activity | Aims | Presentation Slides |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome and Introduction to the programme | - Introduction to us, campus, and genomics - Introduction to the Genome Academy programme and what will be covered - Ice breaker |
Slides |
| Introduction to barcoding project | - Route through the barcoding project | Slides |
| Introduction to lab safety and overview of practical activities | - Provide an introduction to lab safety | Slides |
| Lab practical – mastering micropipetting and exploring electrophoresis | - Introduction to micropipetting - Electrophoresis of dye solutions - Interpretation of electrophoresis |
Slides |
| Lab practical – DNA extraction | - Grinding to separate cells in tissue - Alkaline lysis + heating - Separating supernatant + pellet |
Slides |
| Lab practical – PCR | - Purpose of PCR - Stages of PCR - Setting up PCRs |
Slides |
| Talk: Darwin Tree of Life | - Tropical diseases and drug creation - Applications of PCR and barcoding |
Slides Responses to Questions on Tropical Diseases |
| Reflections on day | - Recap and reflections of the first day | Slides |
| Activity | Aims | Presentation Slides |
|---|---|---|
| Refresher | - Recap of Day 1 content | Slides |
| Lab practical – Gel electrophoresis for DNA discovery | - Preparation of samples for loading - Loading samples for gel electrophoresis - Interpreting results of electrophoresis |
Slides |
| Bioinformatics: Analyse chromatograms and identify invertebrates | - Use Chromas to analyse chromatograms for the accuracy of DNA sequencing - Use BLAST of sequence file against NCBI to identify invertebrate |
- Slides - Practical 1: Using BLAST to identify your sample - Practical 2: Bioinformatics and BLAST instructions Note: The Unknown and Known Barcodes can be found in course_data folder above. |
| Talk: Bioscan | - Introduction to the BIOSCAN project: studying the genetic diversity of 1,000,000 flying insects from the UK over 5 years | Slides |
| Bioinformatics: Create a phylogenetic tree using the invertebrates identified | - Use Clustal Omega to create a multiple sequence alignment - Use Interactive Tree of Life to create a phylogenetic tree |
Slides |
| Reflections on day | - Recap and reflections of the second day | Slides |
| Activity | Aims | Presentation Slides |
|---|---|---|
| Refresher | - Recap of Day 2 content | Slides |
| Talk: Abdul Tumeh | - Automation of lab processes | Slides |
| Talk: Applications of CRISPR / Talk: Drug discovery | - Applications of genomics understanding - Drug discovery |
Slides |
| Ethics Discussion | - Have an understanding of the ethics issues around the use of genomic data | Slides |
| Reflections on day | - Recap and reflections of the third day | Slides |
The course data are free to reuse and adapt with appropriate attribution. All course data in these repositories are licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
For more information or queries, feel free to contact us via the Wellcome Connecting Science website.
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