Past Elevate Training

"Over the next six months, I plan to apply the Mothur and SILVA reference-based workflow directly to my postdoctoral project on the gnathiid isopod microbiome (NRF-funded, Water Research Group, NWU). I'm currently in a method development stage using a manual Geneious pipeline, but intend to move to Mothur once this phase is complete, for more standardised, reproducible OTU/ASV processing and taxonomy assignment against SILVA. This will let me apply proper diversity statistics to test whether microbiome composition differs by fixation method, host, or locality, work that's central to this project and to future NRF-funded parasite microbiome research."

"I will apply this to my own metabarcoding analyses for my research on invasive snails and their potential parasites and pathogens."

"The training has provided me with practical skills that directly align with my research involving molecular metabarcoding. I now have a better understanding of how sequencing data are cleaned, processed, organised into reference libraries, and used to identify taxa. Over the next six months, I hope to apply these skills to my own metabarcoding data, particularly for investigating the presence and diversity of trematodes and other microorganisms associated with Tarebia granifera. The training will also allow me to better understand and critically evaluate the bioinformatic steps involved in my analyses rather than relying entirely on external assistance."