Ship-seq: Nanopore sequencing of polar microbes on board icebreakers
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Environmental Sciences
Abstract
Polar oceans belong to the most underexplored ecosystems on Earth, yet they are considered biodiversity hotspots and they disproportionally contribute to global biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, they are most threatened by global warming. Thus, there is an urgent need to study how environmental change impacts polar organisms that drive biogeochemical cycles such as marine microbes. However, most of these microbes are difficult to study as they need certain temperatures to survive, which limits our ability to transport them to our laboratories for experiments. Long-term maintenance in the laboratory is also challenging as many of them are cold-adapted and require polar-specific environments (e.g. ice and snow). Our project addresses this challenge by bringing the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION sequencing technology to polar oceans for real-time studies on the diversity and function of microbial communities from the surface polar ocean and lower atmosphere. This will be a proof-of-concept study to show that probing and analysing polar microbes at the ocean-atmosphere interface can be done while on an expedition in polar oceans. Benefits are manifold: a) real-time assessment of in situ microbial diversity, b) real-time analysis of in situ or on-board experiments in polar oceans and c) genome and transcriptome sequencing of sensitive but ecologically relevant polar microbes.
People |
ORCID iD |
Thomas Mock (Primary Supervisor) | |
Emma Langan (Student) |
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NE/N012070/1 | 01/10/2016 | 31/03/2025 | |||
1942119 | Studentship | NE/N012070/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/11/2021 | Emma Langan |
Description | Earlham Institute Open Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Earlham Institute open day - around 150 members of the public and 150 school pupils and teachers attended to hear presentations, tour the lab facilities and participate in activities. Surveys reported increased understanding of the importance of genomics and bioinformatics in a range of areas (health, food, environment, day to day life). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Local radio interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Brief local radio interview discussing fieldwork in Antarctica, climate change, importance of phytoplankton, and DNA sequencing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Norwich Science Festival - Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A presentation at the Norwich Science Festival for members of the general public, including children. The presentation was followed by questions and discussions and members of the audience reported increased awareness of the importance of phytoplankton, and the oceans generally, in terms of climate change and ecosystems. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Norwich Science Festival Bee Trail |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Bee Trail event at Norwich Science Festival - helping the general public to build lego DNA sequences based on clues from around the venue. Explaining DNA sequencing and its importance in tracing bee pollination patterns. Members of the public reported increased understanding of the DNA sequencing, and the importance of bee friendly plants and policies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Plenary talk and panel discussion at London Calling 2019 (Nanopore conference) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave a plenary talk and participated in a panel discussion at London Calling 2019 on the use of nanopore sequencing in ocean research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://nanoporetech.com/lc19/speakers#EmmaLangan&modal=EmmaLangan |