Rob is an invited speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Israel Society of Microbiology (ISM), Feb 13 - 14, 2012, Ramat Gan.

Title:

Bioinformatics for the Human Microbiome and Beyond

Abstract

The radical decline in the cost of DNA sequencing poses substantial bioinformatics challenges, especially in the analysis of complex mixtures such as complete bacterial communities. In a few short years, microbial community analysis has gone from a few dozen sequences in a handful of samples to billions of sequences from samples spanning the globe. In this talk, I discuss the rapid coevolution of bioinformatics techniques with new sequencing and laboratory methodologies, highlighting the role of advances in bioinformatics in re-framing the kinds of questions that can be asked of the microbiome. I also discuss the unique role of bioinformatics in preparing for the democratization of sequencing: when every lab is its own sequencing center, how can we aggregate this user-generated content to provide a global knowledgebase that allows predictive modeling to address key challenges including production of advanced biofuels, bioremediation, and personalized medicine?