MB 588

Microbiome Analysis

Section: 001

Course Description

Microbiomes are increasingly recognized for their important roles in ecosystem services ranging from human health to soil biogeochemical cycling. Studying these complex communities relies on DNA sequencing, which often generates large, sparse datasets. Students will be introduced to conceptual and practical aspects of how to analyze microbiome data, and will apply both bioinformatics and statistical approaches. Topics include identifying microbial sequence variants, exploratory analysis of microbial community diversity and structure, applying hypothesis testing to complex microbiome data, and reproducible research.