An intensive, fully hands on course covering the complete DNA metabarcoding and Oxford Nanopore sequencing workflow for environmental and biodiversity applications. The course runs 7 to 10 July 2026 at Liverpool John Moores University, 09:00 to 17:00 daily, with lunch and tea/coffee provided throughout.

 

Working in small teams (maximum 20 participants) you will perform every critical wet lab step: DNA extraction (column based methods plus an automation demo on the KingFisher Apex), COI metabarcoding PCR set up with controls, gel electrophoresis, bead clean‑up and QC, nanopore library preparation (end prep, barcoding and ligation), and flow cell loading with live sequencing monitoring. The final day includes a bioinformatics taster where you demultiplex a data subset, run quality control and build a simple taxonomy table, discussing interpretation issues such as controls and contamination.

 

This includes a live, tutor led 2 day online bioinformatics course on 15 and 16 July (10:00 to 14:00 UK time each day). These post‑course sessions complete the analysis pipeline, turning sequencing output into interpretable results. No separate booking is needed for the online part.

 

This course suits researchers, technicians, students and environmental professionals working in ecology, conservation, environmental monitoring or molecular labs. Some pipetting and PCR familiarity helps but is not essential.