Environmental Genomics

The course focuses in providing the E2S2 fourth year students a comprehensive introduction to the concepts of molecular diversity in natural environments. The course contains a laboratory component that will provide a hands own training in metagenomic/ metatranscriptomic extraction from verity of environmental samples, metagenomic tools and software and empower the students to handle some real life problems. The theory component will expose the students to some case studies of microbial communities and the way the information can be used to enhance ecosystem services for human populations. The first half of the course will contain a theory module where students will read about current topics and discoveries in Environmental Genomics while the second half of the course will contain a practical module where students will experience how environmental genomic data is produced and subsequently analyzed.