Native Microbiota: Ecosystem Profiling with Environmental DNA

Three credits · Undergraduate

Environmental DNA profiling is a breakthrough technology with applications in diverse fields such as ecology, forensics, and human health. This hands-on course teaches the fundamentals of eDNA profiling, including collecting field samples from location(s)students choose, amplifying DNA barcodes of animals / plants / microbes found in the samples, using bioinformatics to analyze barcode sequences, and developing a research proposal based on students' own results. Prerequisite: BIOL 315 or instructor permission. Three credits and lab.