Bioinformatics Inquiry through Sequencing Program - Tufts Summer Study This summer, Tufts is offering two sections of a six-week course for rising high school seniors titled Bioinformatics Inquiry through Sequencing, or BioSeq. This course will allow students... By: Tufts Summer … Continue reading →

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for DNA analysis of microbial communities such as those found in the ocean, the soil, and our own guts. "Metagenomics is the study of entire microbial communities using genomics, such as when you sequence the DNA of a whole community of organisms at once," said Patrick Chain, the lead Los Alamos scientist on the project. "The result is an enormous data set of short sequences, or 'reads,' that you need to sort through to try to understand which organisms are actually present, and what they may be doing. Here at Los Alamos, we specialize in incredibly large data sets, we know how to handle them whether it's for physics, ocean or climate modeling, or for complex biological insights. "We have developed a new tool in this rapidly expanding and evolving field of what is called 'metagenomics'." said Chain, "it uses nucleic acid data and looks for sections that map uniquely to a preconstructed database." In a paper this week in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, "Accurate read-based metagenome characterization using a hierarchical suite of unique signatures," the researchers present this novel method for shotgun metagenomic read classification, a method … Continue reading →

8 hours ago Many molecular biology studies begin with purified DNA and RNA extracted from the soil and other complex environments such as the human gut. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for DNA analysis of these microbial communities. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for DNA analysis of microbial communities such as those found in the ocean, the soil, and our own guts. "Metagenomics is the study of entire microbial communities using genomics, such as when you sequence the DNA of a whole community of organisms at once," said Patrick Chain, the lead Los Alamos scientist on the project. "The result is an enormous data set of short sequences, or 'reads,' that you need to sort through to try to understand which organisms are actually present, and what they may be doing. Here at Los Alamos, we specialize in incredibly large data sets, we know how to handle them whether it's for physics, ocean or climate modeling, or for complex biological insights. "We have developed a new tool in this rapidly expanding and evolving field of what is called 'metagenomics'." said Chain, "it uses … Continue reading →

IMAGE:Many molecular biology studies begin with purified DNA and RNA extracted from the soil and other complex environments such as the human gut. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have... view more Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for DNA analysis of microbial communities such as those found in the ocean, the soil, and our own guts. "Metagenomics is the study of entire microbial communities using genomics, such as when you sequence the DNA of a whole community of organisms at once," said Patrick Chain, the lead Los Alamos scientist on the project. "The result is an enormous data set of short sequences, or 'reads,' that you need to sort through to try to understand which organisms are actually present, and what they may be doing. Here at Los Alamos, we specialize in incredibly large data sets, we know how to handle them whether it's for physics, ocean or climate modeling, or for complex biological insights. "We have developed a new tool in this rapidly expanding and evolving field of what is called 'metagenomics'." said Chain, "it uses nucleic acid data and looks for sections that map uniquely to a … Continue reading →