Nanopore sequencing

Analyse native RNA molecules with nanopore sequencing, concentrating on RNA004 chemistry and its distinctive computational challenges. The course follows POD5 inspection and quality assessment through basecalling, alignment, transcript discovery and abundance estimation. Later exercises estimate poly(A) tails and detect RNA modifications; small projects examine mRNA isoforms, m6A or tRNA modifications, or participants’ own data. Discussions place these analyses in the context of technological limits and emerging applications. Sessions: 14–17 December, 15:00–19:00 daily, Europe/Berlin (CET, UT

Design and analyse environmental-DNA metabarcoding studies with portable Nanopore sequencing. The workshop links field sampling, contamination controls, extraction and PCR to barcoding, library preparation and sequencing. Guided bioinformatics practicals cover basecalling, demultiplexing, filtering, clustering and taxonomic assignment before analysing biodiversity patterns in R. Participants compare alpha and beta diversity and ordination methods, while learning how laboratory choices and sequencing errors affect ecological interpretation. Live online, 2–4 February, 14:00–18:00 Europe/Berlin