Microbiome Pop-Up Labs I

1 Credit · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Welcome to Pop-Up Labs! In this course, we will follow the whole arc of scientific inquiry and engagement – from project design and sample collection through data generation, analysis, and interpretation. We will partner with university, governmental, and non-profit partners to tackle real-world research questions where answers lie in the microorganisms comprising host-associated and environmental microbiomes. Whether samples derive from salt marsh grasses, soils from our own organic garden, or swabs collected from island foxes, we’ll enter the world of microbial ecology and discover something new. In the fall semester, we will design our project in collaboration with this year’s partners, collect and inventory samples, extract DNA, and generate 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing data to address our questions of interest. The semester will culminate in a project proposal and presentation that motivates our research within the broader scientific literature and clearly explains our research questions and approach.