Science Museum Lecture Series: From Antarctica to the International Space Station
Join us Wednesday, May 1st at 7pm in the Mars Ag Center, room 201, for another Science Museum Lecture “From Antarctica to the International Space Station: Technical Considerations for Microbial Research in Extreme Environments.”
With Scott Tighe, Advanced Genomics Core, University of Vermont.
Free and open to the public.
Abstract: The ability to perform advanced genomic techniques on samples collected from extreme environments demands high performance reagents and techniques not commonly used in most labs today. Our research uses novel DNA and RNA extraction protocols, DNA-free reagents, high performance lysis enzymes, multi-step controls, high volume concentrators, and low biomass pre-amplifications to obtain high throughput metagenomic sequencing data using both Illumina-based short read sequencing and nanopore-based long read sequencing. Our procedures have been developed for samples from NASA’s ISS, Antarctica, Greenland, sulfur caves, deserts, thermophilic, halophilic, acidic, and alkaline ecosystems, as well as other common samples types including agricultural, water, food, air, soil, and forensic. This presentation will address the experimental considerations for studying each extreme location and techniques to produce metagenomics data with reduced sequencing bias.
Biosketch: Scott Tighe is currently senior researcher analyst at the UVM Integrative Genomics facility which handles advanced genomic analysis for the University of Vermont and associated institutes as well as several NASA locations. His expertise is all areas of genomics and microbiology including next generation sequencing, Sanger sequencing, microarray, PCR, single cell analysis, flow cytometry, metagenomics biophotonics, and biomolecular detection of ultra low biomass nucleic acids in the environment. His current research involves advancing techniques used for metagenomics and microbiome analysis through applications on extreme environments as well as sequencing microorganisms from space. He is currently Chair of the ABRF Metagenomics Research Group and Extreme Microbiome Project (XMP), co-leader of the International Metagenomics and Microbiome Standards Alliance at NIST, Board member of the Genomics Standards Consortium, and developer the NASA uTitan payload deployed to the International Space Station to study DNA extractions in zero-gravity in late 2023.
