RCAC bioinformatics team hosts successful genome assembly and annotation workshop
Purdue’s Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC) recently hosted a two day Genome Assembly and Annotation workshop that brought together faculty, students and postdocs and focused on genome assembly methodologies, tools and best practices, with hands-on demonstrations.
“There were great discussions on various topics, and we’ve already received follow-up interest in similar workshops,” says Arun Seetharam, lead bioinformatics scientist for RCAC, who coordinated the workshop and led the workshop with fellow RCAC staffers Charles Christoffer (who served as a co-instructor), Geoffrey Lentner, Michael Allan Carlson and Xiao Liu. Future sessions may focus on microbiome metagenomic sequencing.
“Even though I hadn’t performed genome assembly before, the workshop gave me a solid understanding of the basics of genome assembly. It also highlighted the presence of a bioinformatics team at Purdue and introduced me to various on-campus resources I wasn’t aware of,” says Jiangshan Wang, a postdoctoral research associate in agricultural and biological engineering, who adds that he was especially impressed that such comprehensive training could be delivered in two days.
Wang, who works in a bioengineering lab doing long-read (Nanopore) sequencing, had primarily taught himself the fundamentals of sequence processing, but sought out the workshop to confirm he was following standard practices and to receive systematic training from experts.
“Bioinformatics pipelines can feel overwhelming because researchers use a variety of tools and methods, and there aren’t comprehensive guidelines covering the entire field,” explains Wang. “With so many options it’s tough for beginners to know where to start or how to evaluate different tools. This workshop provided a strong foundation, helping me figure out how to begin exploring genome assembly pipelines and identify the approaches best suited to my needs.”
Workshop materials for genome assembly and genome annotation are publicly available.
To learn more about Purdue RCAC’s genomics and bioinformatics resources and plans for future events, contact rcac@purdue.edu.