Event

Professor Karen E. Nelson, Director of Human Microbiology and Metagenomics at the J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville MD, USA, will present a seminar titled "Genes, Genomes, and Metagenomes: Understanding our Microbial World" on Monday 16th November, 2009, at noon. It will take place at the Faculty of Science and Agriculture Conference Room.

 

Abstract:

In the mid 1990’s the real launch of the genomic era began with the availability of the complete genome sequence of the pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. Since that major success, there have been numerous examples of genomes from organisms that represent all the domains of life, including the completion of hundreds of microbial genomes that represent both pathogenic and non-pathogenic species (hundreds of partial genomes are also available), organisms that help us to clean up the environment, and organisms that allow us to understand genetic changes over time and adaption to new niches. This work also laid the foundation for generating genome sequence information from whole environments without using a first culturing step, a field of research now known as “metagenomics”, and the study of the human microbiome is now a major worldwide initiative. The evolution and adaptations of microbial species as we continue to learn from genomic and metagenomic studies will be presented.

Dr. Nelson received her BSc from the UWI, and her PhD from Cornell University. She has over 90 publications, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Microbial Ecology. She is also a standing member of the NRC Committee on Biodefense, and a member of the American Society for Microbiology Communications Committee.