Scholar works for the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and employs molecular data to study biodiversity
This week, students of the Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity (PPG-EEB) and the Graduate Program in Celular and Molecular Biology (PPG-BCM) welcomed Dr. Joe Taylor, senior researcher at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, for a remote course on DNA Metabarcoding for Biodiversity Studies. Taylor has been solid partners with PUCRS. In 2019, he came to the University on the Institutional Program of Internationalization (PUCRS-PrInt), to teach this course for the first time.
He has been invited by School of Health and Life Sciences professor and Coordinator of PPG-EEB, Dr. Eduardo Eizirik, and by Dr. Laura Utz (also a faculty member of PPG-EEB), who have been working together with the British researcher in cooperation projects. The course addresses the conceptual and practical aspects of molecular ecology, with a specific focus on methods to characterize and monitor biodiversity (especially in aquatic environments) using the DNA metabarcoding technique on environmental samples.
This technique consists of large-scale sequencing of DNA extracted from environmental samples, such as water or soil, to detect and monitor thousands of species of organisms simultaneously. The use of this technique on a large scale is making a big impact on several areas of science, from biodiversity surveys at remote locations to environmental impact assessment and quality control of water and food.
Taylor has also delivered the talk Applications of DNA metabarcoding to water quality monitoring.
