CAMBRIDGE, Mass., DATE — Scientists at Forsyth and Virginia Commonwealth University have developed a new book focused on the application of high throughput analysis to advance studies of the microbiome. Published by Elsevier under the Academic Press imprint, this book, Metagenomics for Microbiology offers insight on the design and analysis of omics studies. It provides resources for clinical and environmental microbiologists, molecular biologists, infectious disease experts, statisticians, biostatisticians and public health scientists.
This book edited by Drs. Jacques Izard and Maria Rivera focuses on the technological and methodological progresses sustained by the metagenomic approaches and their practical applications.
For example, studying human-bacteria interactions could lead to new ways to monitor human health status for preventing or treating oral and systemic human diseases. Next-generation genomic sequencing revolution provides scientists with the capacity to compare multiple sites within individuals and at higher resolution and greater throughput than ever before. Metagenomics for Microbiology provides the tools to advance these research studies.
The book includes components which:
- Expertly describe the latest metagenomic methodologies and best-practices, from sample collection to data analysis for taxonomic, whole shotgun metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic studies
- Outline sample collection and preparation, data generation and quality control, third generation sequencing, advances in computational analyses of shotgun metagenomic sequence data, taxonomic profiling of shotgun data, hypothesis testing, and mathematical and computational analysis of longitudinal data and time series.
- Offer pointers and quick starts to direct research efforts and increase study efficacy
Jacques Izard, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at The Forsyth Institute. His current focus includes investigations of the connections between oral infections and pancreatic cancer, and the influence of diet on the digestive tract microbiome. As a member of the leading team of scientists looking at the microbiota of 300 healthy people, recruited through the Human Microbiome Project, Dr. Izard spearheaded the analysis of the digestive tract microbiota including the oral cavity of this unique population.
Maria Rivera, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a Fellow of Linnean Society of London and has work extensively in molecular evolution and genomics. Her comparative genomics studies have contributed to the current understanding of the role of horizontal gene transfer in microbial evolution. Currently, her research focus is to understand the impact of genetic variation on the composition of the gut microbiota. As a member of the Human Microbiome Project, Dr. Rivera has contributed to the analysis of the vaginal microbiome.
