"Winter Wet Lab" winter school at Comenius University
PhD students from two international projects attend the "Winter Wet Lab" winter school at Comenius University on February 1-8, 2023.
27 PhD students and young scientists from Europe will meet at Comenius University on February 1-8, 2023 to participate in a winter school, the aim of which is to sequence and analyze the pangenome of a unicellular organism.
The event is organized by the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics together with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Natura non-profit within the international projects PANGAIA and ALPACA financed by the Horizon 2020 program. The projects are aimed at designing bioinformatics methods for representing and comparing the genomes of a large number of individuals.
The participants of the event will work on a research project comparing the genomes of several strains of a certain microorganism with the aim of jointly creating a scientific publication that will be completed and submitted for publication after the event. "It is extremely important for future bioinformaticians to get an idea of how the laboratory part of such a project works," says dr. Vinař from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics. "In bioinformatics, experience with biological laboratory environment significantly improves the ability to communicate with biologists."
"We already have experience with this type of laboratory exercises for computer science students. For our doctoral students and young researchers, such an event is an excellent opportunity to acquire new pedagogical skills," adds prof. Nosek from the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Participants will acquire or deepen skills ranging from laboratory work to bioinformatics analysis to collaboration in scientific teams and dissemination of results. "We will use the experience gained at this event to innovate courses for study programs in bioinformatics, biochemistry and genetics," concludes dr. Brejová from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics.
ALPACA and PANGAIA projects received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 956229 and 872539.