Venue: Qatar University, H10 building, Zone 5
Course Date: 31 October - 4 November 2021
Course Fee: 1000 QAR
Description
This is a five-day training course that consists of a series of lectures and practical sessions on virus genome sequencing and analysis. The course will provide participants with hands-on training on using high-throughput sequencing technologies to sequence RNA viruses. The course is also designed to provide the participants with basic knowledge on viral genome sequence analysis and interpretation. Participants will learn to analyze large sequencing datasets using graphical user interface (GUI) programs as well as command-line tools. In addition to gained knowledge and skills, participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and develop future collaborative projects between different stakeholders. The course will encourage the exchange of ideas among diagnosticians, researchers, and bioinformaticians interested in virology research.
Topics
The workshop will cover the following topics:
- Overview of high throughput sequencing technologies: ONT and MGI platforms.
- Hands-on training on sequencing protocols: library preparation, barcoding, normalization, and loading on the sequencer.
- Utilizing graphical user interface programs and Linux/Unix command line for viral data analysis.
- Reference assembly: filtration of sequencing reads, alignment of reads to a known reference genome, and visualization of the aligned reads.
- De novo assembly: overlap layout and de Bruijn graphs approach for sequence assembly, quality assessment, and merging contigs.
- Variant calling: generating variant lists, filtering variants, annotating variants, and generating the consensus sequence.
- Phylogenetic analysis: introduction to multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic reconstruction.
Target audience
The course is open to applicants who have experience dealing with virus diagnostics and research. The workshop is designed for researchers at various levels including lab technologists, researchers, and postgraduate students.
To maintain a good ratio of tutors to participants, only 10 participants will be allowed to attend the course. Preference will be given to applicants from national diagnostic and academic core labs.