5th Life Discovery - Doing Science Biology Education Conference

Microbiomes to Ecosystems: Evolution and Biodiversity across Scale, Space, and Time

Our knowledge about the Earth’s biodiversity across space, time, and scale is expanding rapidly. New tools, like remote sensing, are creating new data sources, while other tools, like digitization, are freeing traditional datasets from the cabinets and drawers of labs and collections and making them accessible online. How do we teach students about biodiversity at different scales and contexts with these new data, tools, and resources? How do we best enable and develop the next generation of 21st century scientists and create data-driven educational programs aligned to national initiatives such as Next Generations Science Standards and Vision and Change for Undergraduate Biology Education?

The Life Discovery – Doing Science Biology Education Conference will build on the 2017 data theme and challenge educators to create opportunities for their learners to explore our theme across Scale, Space and Time.

The conference will have some great hands-on activities and workshops.  

Be sure to check out Caturday Microbiomes - Thinking Outside the Litter Box with Danny and Lil Bub.  

Dr. Sandra Porter, PI on Bridge to Bio-Link's Future, will be presenting a hands-on workshop with microbiome data from Lil Bub - a "perma kitten" and Danny, a normal cat.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to the cutting edge of microbiome analysis, and share a rich data set consisting of assembled genome data from the gut microbiomes of two cats, Lil Bub and Danny.  Lil Bub is a celebrity cat with genetic abnormalities and Danny is a normal house cat.  

Phase Genomics performed the DNA sequencing and assembly and has made the data available on their web site for public use. Workshop participants will learn how researchers use microbiome data and identify new species.  They will also learn how to interpret some of the statistical parameters associated with that data and carry out additional analyses.

Participants will investigate a microbe from a cat microbiome community by locating it in the NCBI Lifemap, and carrying out a blastx search to identify a protein from that microorganism.  Methods for learning more about individual microbes and performing additional experiments comparing the microbiomes from the two cats will be discussed.

Learn more!