Standardizing Microbiomics

The rapid growth of Microbiomics has increased the demand for standard methods to improve the reproducibility and quality of the data being generated.   Therefore, there is a need for standard reference materials for the development, evaluation, calibration, and validation of complex microbiomics workflows encompassing sample collection, sample preparation, and analyses. Standardization of the following methods would greatly improve the quality of data generated:  (1) sample collection tools that can reliably provide a molecular snapshot at the time of collection by stabilizing the nucleic acids at ambient temperature and rendering the sample noninfectious for safe transport; (2) purification methodologies that take into consideration the biases associated with differential lysis efficiency of the organism being processed (e.g. gram-negative/positive bacteria, fungus, viruses, and associated spores);  (3)  analytical pipelines that reduce bias due to library preparation methods, PCR, and bioinformatics (e.g. GC content, log difference organism abundances, detection limit, and ability to distinguish closely related organisms).  To address these fundamental challenges, the scientists at Zymo Research have created reference materials for the development of the most accurate and unbiased workflows from sample collection to analyses. In this seminar, we will show how these reference materials improve the quality of data generated from Microbiomic studies.

Learning objectives:

1. Attendees will learn why there is a need for standard methods to improve data analysis within micriobiomics workflows.
2. Attendees will learn how individual steps in their microbiomic workflow can be standardized to greatly improve the quality and reproducibility of the data generated.