Genomics in the Wild

This course will cover genomic tools that can be used to study ecology and evolution in the field. Students will use the latest sequencing technologies (Illumina and Oxford Nanopore) to study ecological communities. Together, the students will design a set of studies that will use molecular barcoding to assess the composition of both animal and bacterial communities. They will conduct field trips to collect target samples for our experiments, and then they will extract DNA, amplify target loci, sequence their samples in the field, and analyze the resulting data. This course is offered as part of the semester abroad program in Panama.