Harnessing the Power of Metagenomics: Applications, Methods, and Real World Examples The presentation will begin October 19, 2011 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. UK Sponsored by BGI Brought to you by the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office     The term metagenomics has been in the lexicon of life scientists for a number of years now. More recently this field has been showing rapid progress, particularly as DNA sequencing technology advances in leaps and bounds. The power of metagenomics has been clearly demonstrated in its application to many diverse areas—including characterizing the microbiomes of the human gut, seawater samples, and soil samples—impacting human health, ecology, and agriculture/agronomy. All microbes in a particular specimen can now be catalogued—and useful biomarkers identified—without the need for culturing of these organisms. This type of analysis also provides a truer representation of the in situ conditions present when sampling occurred. This live, video webinar will introduce the viewer to the important field of metagenomics and provide insight into how it can be integrated into their research. Viewers of this webinar will: Receive an introduction to metagenomics, its utility, and its application Learn how metagenomics can be applied to real-world questions in genomics research Hear how experts have successfully used metagenomics to characterize different microbiomes Be able to put their questions to the panel live!   Speakers: Jack Gilbert, Ph.D. University of Chicago Chicago, IL Dr. Gilbert earned his Ph.D. from Nottingham University, UK in 2002, and received his postdoctoral training in Canada at Queens University. He returned to the UK in 2005 for a senior scientist position at Plymouth Marine Laboratory before moving to Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in 2010. Dr. Gilbert is currently a senior environmental microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory and affiliated with Argonne's Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, and a fellow of the Institute for Genomics & Systems Biology. His research interests are in microbial community ecology where he is currently applying next-generation sequencing technologies to microbial metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to test fundamental hypotheses. He has authored over 60 publications and book chapters on metagenomics and approaches to ecosystem ecology. Dr. Gilbert is on the board of the Genomic Standards Consortium, a nonprofit organization committed to improving metadata standards for metagenomic data submissions. He is also an editor for PLoS ONE and the ISME Journal, and is coleading the Earth Microbiome Project (www.earthmicrobiome.org). Dr. Karen E. Nelson, Ph.D. J. Craig Venter Institute Rockville, MD Dr. Karen E. Nelson is the director of the Rockville, Maryland campus of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). She received her undergraduate education from the University of the West Indies, and her Ph.D. in microbiology from Cornell University in 1997. Dr. Nelson has extensive experience in microbial ecology, genomics, and metagenomics as well as in microbial physiology. In 1999, at the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), she led the genome sequencing of Thermotoga maritima MSB8, a bacterium isolated in water from a thermal vent off the coast of Italy, and the landmark publication provided insights into microbial evolution. She has also been involved in the analysis of the microbiota of the human stomach and gastrointestinal tract, and Dr. Nelson and her group were part of a national team of researchers who completed the first comprehensive metagenomic survey of the human gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Nelson is also editor-in-chief of Microbial Ecology and Advances in Microbial Ecology, and a member of the NRC Committee on Biodefense, the American Society for Microbiology Communications Committee, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Currently she is a key investigator in the multicenter NIH Human Microbiome Project, which focuses on understanding the microbes that live in and on the human body and their contribution to human health and disease. She has authored or co-authored over 100 publications. Jun Wang, Ph.D. BGI Shenzhen, China Dr. Jun Wang is the executive director of the BGI (previously known as the Beijing Genomics Institute). He was instrumental in the 1999 founding and the growth of the BGI Bioinformatics Department, which is now widely recognized as one of world’s premier research facilities committed to excellence in genome sciences. Dr. Wang also holds a position as an Ole Rømer professor at the University of Copenhagen. He has authored 100+ peer-reviewed original papers—of which 35 are published in Science and Nature (including Nature series, 14 as cover story). Dr. Wang has been recognized with an award from His Royal Highness the Prince Consort’s Foundation in Denmark, an Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Top 10 Scientific Achievements in China, and the prize for Important Innovation and Contribution from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on genomics and related bioinformatics analysis of complex diseases and agricultural crops, with the goal of developing applications using this genomic information.   Moderator: Sean Sanders, Ph.D., Editor, Custom Publishing, Science/AAAS Sean Sanders did his undergraduate training at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, UK, supported by the Wellcome Trust. Following postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and Georgetown University, Dr. Sanders joined TranXenoGen, a startup biotechnology company in Massachusetts working on avian transgenics. Pursuing his parallel passion for writing and editing, Dr. Sanders joined BioTechniques as an editor, before joining Science/AAAS in 2006. Currently Dr. Sanders is the Editor for Custom Publications for the journal Science and Program Director for Outreach.   ___________________________________________________________________________________________________   For the best experience we recommend you use Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) or higher on a Windows-based PC to view this webinar. Please ensure that you are using a computer with a stable internet connection and good bandwidth. To ensure the best possible performance of the webinar we recommend that you avoid using a dial-up connection. Note: please confirm the start time of the webinar in your time zone. 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