Syllabus
The course will include several mini presentations on experimental design and methodology. The instructor intends to develop the project and further enrich the methodologies according to the interests of the students, as far as such additions are fitting the topic and the time schedule of the course and the equipment restrictions of the available laboratories. The students will be trained and perform the following methods during the course:
1. DNA isolation, quality control
2. Primer design, PCR, Sanger sequencing analysis, taxon identification from genomic data
3. Identification of sex and measurement of telomere length by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)
4. Cytogenetic analysis: chromosome preparation, karyotype reconstruction, in situ hybridization with satellite sequences (FISH), Comparative genome hybridization (CGH), microscopy
5. Basic analysis of next generation sequencing data (mtDNA assembly and annotation, identification of sex-linked loci) in Windows PC environment. Previous experience in experimental biology or bioinformatics is not required.
Annotation
The students will have the opportunity to actively experience all stages of the development of a research project in the field of the evolutionary genetics and genomics at first hand. The instructor will provide ideas/hypotheses for a research and together with the students, they will develop the concept and an appropriate experimental design.
Then, the students will perform the necessary experiments, the subsequent data analyses and they will interpret the results. During this process, the student will receive mini-tutorials on methods, as well as protocols and instructions to perform experiments in both the wet and dry lab. At the end of the course, the students will have obtained not only skills how to perform crucial experimental procedures, but also a wide overview on design and execution of an experimental research project.