Time: 3:00 pm (UK time)/ 10:00 am (EST)
Please join us for the next seminar in this series in which you will first hear from Francois Berdou, Strategic Account Manager France & Suisse, Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., who will give an overview of the platform before we are joined by Ahidjo Ayouba, IRD/INSERM/Université de Montpellier, who will talk about Use of the MinION for rapid field sequencing of Ebola virus and for the fine characterization of the human and simian immunodeficiency. Following this, we will hear from David Nieuwenhuijse, Erasmus MC, who will present his latest research on Whole genome nanopore sequencing in the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in Dutch mink farms using nanopore sequencing.
Participants will learn about:
There will also be an opportunity to submit questions throughout the talks which will be answered in the live Q&A session following the presentations.
Please register below to attend this webinar. You will receive a confirmation of your place from events@nanoporetech.com.
Ahidjo Ayouba Ph.D. is Director of research at the French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD). He conducts research on emerging infectious diseases at the human/wildlife interface in Africa in a multidisciplinary context that includes vetenarians, clinicians, virologists, epidemiologists and anthropologists.
Abstract
Use of the MinION for rapid field sequencing of Ebola virus and for fine characterisation of the human and simian immunodeficiency viruses
Our research group works on the emergence of pathogens (HIV, SIV, Ebola, Coronaviruses, etc) at the human / wildlife interface in Africa and the evolution of these pathogens once established in the human population. To address some of the questions raised by this problem, we used the Oxford Nanopore MinION with native barcoding kits to characterize in near real-time the strains of Ebola virus responsible for two recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We also used the MinION to characterize an SIV isolate infecting an African green monkey with a complex mosaic structure. Finally, we use the MinION to study the complexity of HIV-1 infection, especially by the characterization of recombinant viruses.
David has a combined background in both Medical Biotechnology and Bioinformatics and is looking to bridge the gap between biology and data science. He believes in a top-down approach and is interested in the biological interpretation and visualization of complex datasets.
Abstract
Whole genome nanopore sequencing in the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in Dutch mink farms
The zoonotic origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still unknown. In animal experiments and in the field the virus has been shown to be able to infect a variety of animals. Using amplicon-based whole genome sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore platform, we have performed an in-depth investigation of outbreaks on 16 mink farms and humans living or working on these farms and have continued to track the virus as it spread to over 53 of the 128 mink farms in the Netherlands. Our research describes the initial human to mink and continued mink to mink transmission, but also mink to human transmission, which was not seen before.
François Berdou, Strategic Account Manager, Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd.