Nabil and Lee bring a guest host Clint to talk with some of the people behind Pathoplexus http://pathoplexus.org/ * Dr. Emma Hodcroft - https://pathoplexus.org/about/eb * Dr. Theo Sanderson - https://pathoplexus.org/about/development-team * Mr. Arthur Shem Kasambula - https://pathoplexus.org/about/development-team
143 - where we catch up on our professional lives by Microbial Bioinformatics
The crew talks about the genomeqc ecosystem. Check it out at https://happykhan.github.io/qualibact/ Errata: The project name was chaned to qualibact and is no longer genomeqc as mentioned on the episode.
In this episode of the Podcast, hosts Lee Katz and Andrew Page delve into the intricacies of clinical metagenomics. Joined by experts Torsten Seemann and Finlay Maguire, they explore the challenges and methodologies involved in identifying pathogens in clinical samples when traditional diagnostic methods fail. They discuss the types of samples analyzed, the impact of low DNA concentrations, and the complexities of sequencing data interpretation. The conversation highlights the importance of inte...
On this episode we are joined by Sara Zufan to discuss her PhD journey and recent projects. The episode covers various research experiences and challenges in the field, including the rapid detection of AMR using nanopore sequencing, COVID-19 projects, hepatitis A outbreak investigations, and Lassa virus surveillance in Liberia. The guests share insights into their professional journeys, their experiences working across different continents, and the future of microbial bioinformatics research.
In this episode of the Micro Binfie Podcast, host Andrew Page takes listeners to the heart of the microbial genomics hackathon in Bethesda, Maryland, for an engaging conversation with special guest Megan Phillips, a PhD student from Emory University. Megan delves into her research on Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), highlighting its fascinating dual nature as both a harmless and potentially serious pathogen. Megan discusses the complexities of tetracycline resistance, particularly focusing on plasm...
In a two-part discussion, the hosts analyze the movie Contagion from their expert perspectives, focusing on the film's portrayal of epidemiology and genomics. They note that the movie compresses timelines for dramatic effect, speeding up the virus's spread and the response to it, and that decisions about managing a crisis are based on societal values, not just science. In part one, the hosts discuss the movie's depiction of the R0 value. They note that while this explanation is useful for the au...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie podcast, host Andrew Page is joined by Nikhita Puthuveetil, Senior Bioinformatician at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). They delve into ATCC's ambitious project of sequencing a vast array of organisms from their renowned collection, tackling the challenges of assembling complex genomes from bacteria, viruses, fungi, and more. Discover how Nikhita and her team navigate through genomic roadblocks, leverage cutting-edge sequencing technologies, and wo...
Andrew, Lee, Torsten, and Fin muse over the future of MLST, Illumina, and Nanopore at the ASM NGS Hackathon
In a two-part discussion, the hosts analyze the movie Contagion from their expert perspectives, focusing on the film's portrayal of epidemiology and genomics. They note that the movie compresses timelines for dramatic effect, speeding up the virus's spread and the response to it, and that decisions about managing a crisis are based on societal values, not just science. In part one, the hosts discuss the movie's depiction of the R0 value. They note that while this explanation is useful for the au...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie Podcast, host Andrew Page speaks with Dr. Brooke Talbot, a recent PhD graduate from Emory University, about her research on Staphylococcus aureus, with a focus on MRSA and antibiotic resistance. Brooke shares insights into her molecular epidemiology work, discussing the complexities of tracking resistant bacterial strains in clinical settings and the significance of genomic epidemiology in public health. From honeybees to foodborne outbreaks, Brooke’s diverse ...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie podcast, host Andrew Page talks with Dr. Erin Young, a bioinformatician at the Utah Public Health Laboratory, recorded during the 10th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon in Bethesda, Maryland. Erin shares her journey from researching hereditary cancer predisposition to her current role in public health bioinformatics, which she entered through a prestigious CDC and APHL fellowship. The conversation delves into her work with bacterial pathogens, particularly in...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie podcast, host Andrew Page is live from the 10th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon in Bethesda, Maryland. He sits down with David Mahoney, a PhD student from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. David shares his research on characterizing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and their transfer within metagenomes, focusing on metagenomic assembly graphs. They delve into David’s background in food safety microbiology and his interest in the public healt...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie Podcast, host Andrew Page catches up with Torsten Seemann at the 10th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon in Bethesda, Maryland. They discuss the rapid evolution of bioinformatics, the challenges faced by labs worldwide, and the explosion of tools post-COVID. Torsten shares insights into his work at Melbourne’s Microbiological Diagnostic Unit (MDU), the development of platforms like OzTracker for bacterial genomics, and how his lab plays a national and internat...
In this episode of the Micro binfie Podcast, host Andrew Page sits down with Tim Dallman at the 10th Bioinformatics Hackathon in Bethesda, Maryland. Tim shares insights from his work at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he focuses on genomic surveillance and machine learning models to predict disease risk and severity. They discuss the challenges of integrating genomic variation into predictive models, the importance of high-quality metadata, and the complexities of working with patho...
Host Andrew Page is joined by Robert Petit from the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory. Robert, a key developer of the Bactopia pipeline, shares insights into how this end-to-end tool is transforming bacterial genomic surveillance. They dive into the origins of Bactopia, its applications in public health, and Robert's experience leading genomic projects in a rural setting. Discover how Bactopia streamlines pathogen detection, improves documentation, and integrates with other tools to deliver fast ...
Andrew and Lee talk with Christine and Cynney about the Haiti cholera outbreak Cynney Walters: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynney-walters-763111190 Walters et al, "Genome sequences from a reemergence of Vibrio cholerae in Haiti, 2022 reveal relatedness to previously circulating strains" https://journals.asm.org/doi/abs/10.1128/jcm.00142-23
Nabil and Lee have a quick chat about minimum spanning trees (MST). Eburst paper: https://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2105-10-152
We go over tree visualizations! * Microreact https://microreact.org/,https://www.phylocanvas.gl/ * grapetree https://github.com/achtman-lab/GrapeTree * Auspice/NextStrain https://nextstrain.org/ * Taxonium https://taxonium.org/ * Itol: https://itol.embl.de/ * PhyloViz https://online.phyloviz.net/index * Phandango https://jameshadfield.github.io/phandango/#/main
125 Kostas Konstantinidis returns to talk to us about ANI and metagenomics by Microbial Bioinformatics
We talk with Kostas! For more information please visit https://enve-omics.gatech.edu/
In this episode of the Micro Binfie Podcast, hosts Dr. Andrew Page and Dr. Lee Katz delve into the fascinating world of hash databases and their application in cgMLST (core genome Multilocus Sequence Typing) for microbial bioinformatics. The discussion begins with the challenges faced by bioinformaticians due to siloed MLST databases across the globe, which hinder synchronization and effective genomic surveillance. To address these issues, the concept of using hash databases for allele identific...
We discuss GAMBIT, software for accurately classifying bacteria and eukaryotes using a targeted k-mer based approach. GAMBIT software: https://github.com/gambit-suite/gambit GAMBIT suite: https://github.com/gambit-suite GAMBIT (Genomic Approximation Method for Bacterial Identification and Tracking): A methodology to rapidly leverage whole genome sequencing of bacterial isolates for clinical identification. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277575 TheiaEuk: a species-agnostic bioinformatics w...
In this episode, Andrew Page and Lee Katz continue their conversation with Titus Brown, diving deeper into his work on k-mers, Sourmash, and open source software development: Topics discussed: K-mers for analyzing sequencing data, and how Sourmash builds on MinHash How Sourmash handles k-mers for metagenomic comparisons vs. MASH The modhash and bottom sketch approaches used in Sourmash Dealing with sequencing errors and noise in k-mer data Sourmash as a reference-based method, and applications f...
In this final episode with Titus Brown, the conversation focuses on his work scaling metagenomic search with Sourmash: An overview of what Sourmash does - sketching and comparing large k-mer datasets How the sampling approach enables analyses like containment estimation Exciting capabilities of the Branchwater tool for multi-threaded real-time SRA search Scaling to search across millions of metagenomes in seconds with WebAssembly Potential public health applications for tracking and sourcing pat...
In this episode, Andrew Page and Lee Katz continue their chat with Titus Brown, focusing on taxonomy assignment in metagenomics: Topics discussed: Dealing with contamination and low quality genomes in reference databases Sourmash as a versatile search tool, not a curated database The need for high confidence in taxonomic assignment in public health Most microbial assignment tools have low specificity or sensitivity Possible ways to achieve perfect species classification (in theory) The challenge...
Andrew, Nabil, and Lee react to the bioinformatics and the science overall in the 1993 film Jurassic Park. We looked at these YouTube clips: * https://youtu.be/mDTaykXudVI?si=I5aiUdBGStpIKHVC * https://youtu.be/RLz5Api676Y?si=D6nps33O42Fmk4Ac * https://youtu.be/0Nz8YrCC9X8?si=KNwkeFoS6Bu4LOpv * https://youtu.be/dxIPcbmo1_U?si=TOBw5AONYVCW0JzV * https://youtu.be/m1lc8GwBKFE?si=rj7Oiq51l2_dB6ro More information on the secret tattoo here: https://underunderstood.com/podcast/episode/jeff-goldblums-s...
In this episode of the Micro Binfie Podcast, Andrew Page and Lee Katz interview Titus Brown about his journey from studying math and physics as an undergrad to becoming a bioinformatician focusing on metagenomics and software development. Topics discussed: Titus' background in math, physics, digital evolution research, and developmental biology His transition into bioinformatics to analyze the influx of genomic data in the 1990s Developing early tools for comparative genomics and sequence analys...
The podcast discusses an article co-authored by Andrew Page, examining the use of GPT-4 for research publication. The conversation focuses on the authorship of articles generated by GPT-4 and the implications for academic publishing. Authorship and Ethics: Andrew discusses the question of authorship when AI-generated content is involved in research articles. He explores the ethical implications and potential biases associated with AI-assisted writing, such as the omission of minority figures and...
We continue our conversation with Wytamma Wirth about write-the and all things AI. It starts with discussing the usage of language models, specifically ChatGPT, in writing boilerplate code, and how it can assist in generating code snippets, unit tests, and even documentation strings. The participants also explore the potential of incorporating it into code editors to make coding more efficient and less error-prone. The conversation then shifts to discuss the generation of research papers, specif...
