Welcome To Expert Sequencing
Understanding the power of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is more than just extracting some nucleic acids from the target cells and running it through a machine. It requires extensive knowledge of the types of assays possible, the different preparation techniques to ensure high-quality data, and the computational analysis tools necessary to have actional data.
Join The Waitlist
When Expert Sequencing opens up to new members, you'll be the first to know
Fabienne Lucas, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Resident in Clinical Pathology
I began Expert Cytometry as a postdoc in the US after my medical and PhD training in Germany and the UK. I had used flow cytometry for more than 5 years but needed to take a ‘deep dive’ to really understand the technique. I soon became the expert in my lab and helped my peers design their experiments. It was also the impetus for me to apply (and receive) the Mary Lou Ingram Scholarship, and start the MiSET RFC standard while I continue my career in cytometry.
Carina Torres
Core Manager
Eli Lilly & Company
I invited Expert Cytometry to Lilly Pharmaceuticals to teach a two-day comprehensive course; ranging from the fundamentals of flow to the experimental design of assays specific to what I think a lot of biotech companies are doing these days. Afterward, several of our scientists wondered why I didn’t bring in a course like this earlier! Our instructor, Tim Bushnell, Ph.D., educated my users with the background they needed to design their assays most effectively. I immediately noticed the positive impact he had when my users began to ask more informed questions during the planning stages of their experiments. As a busy core manager, it’s difficult to find the time to prepare such a well-designed course like Expert Cytometry offers while trying to stay focused on innovation and maintaining a competitive advantage in the fast-paced industry environment. I’m grateful to the Expert Cytometry team for helping me to keep things moving forward at Lilly.
Miguel Garcia
Head of Flow Cytometry Unit
Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
As a Core Manager, my position requires staying up to date with the latest best practices. Expert Cytometry provided the necessary information on flow cytometry to stay on the cutting edge of the field for a reasonable investment. Overall, the course was really well done by speakers expert on the field and I really appreciated the flexibility of listening to the webinars as needed. Expert Cytometry is wonderful and I would recommend it to beginner as well as advanced flow cytometry professionals.
Amrutesh Puranik, PhD
Senior Staff Scientist
Regeneron
I’m a postdoctoral researcher and know a lot about flow but I needed to learn a few new techniques and execute them before I could get my paper published. I joined Expert Cytometry because they have a good reputation for teaching high-level flow cytometry information very well. I really enjoyed the personal guidance Expert Cytometry offered and was impressed by how much I learned about controls and compensation, experimental design, statistics, and even apoptosis. Expert Cytometry is perhaps the only class that teaches you from scratch how to be a flow cytometry expert.
About Expert Sequencing
An expert, PhD-level NGS technical training program with 4 modules, each including a one-hour instructional video along with a downloadable Workbook and Presentation. After the completion of each module, you can test your expertise against quizzes and scored exams.
This program will ensure you understand how to generate NGS data that meet the approval of editorial, grant, and patent reviewers. The program will reduce the frustration that results from a poor understanding of NGS principles, provide information that enables you to troubleshoot NGS challenges during your research, and help improve experimental reproducibility.
What’s Included In The Expert Sequencing Training Program?
Module 1: Next Generation Sequencing, Basic Techniques, and Applications
Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a rapidly evolving technology that has opened a new era of scientific innovation. In this module, you will learn the basic principles underlying this technology and its wide variety of applications.
Get ready to dive into…
- The processes that take place during the library preparation, cluster generation, sequencing, and data analysis steps of NGS.
- Common NGS technologies (Illumina, Pyrosequencing, Ion Torrent, and SOLiD). In this module, you will take a deep dive into each technology to learn how each achieves the different steps of NGS and how it affects the final sequencing output.
- 4 advantages that NGS has over Sanger sequencing beyond being faster and cheaper per base pair that broaden its uses.
- Applications that rely on NGS including Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), Whole Exome Sequencing (WES), RNA sequencing methods, High-Throughput Epigenetic Profiling, and more.
Module 2: Generating Powerful NGS Data
The key to a successful NGS experiment is to anticipate problems and address them before you even get started. In this module, you will learn what to consider when you design and execute an NGS experiment so that you don’t waste $20,000 on an unproductive run.
Get ready to dive into…
- The concepts of sensitivity and specificity and how to use them to calculate the power you need to obtain through the design of your NGS experiment.
- Sources of error in NGS experiments, including library-preparation phase errors, batch effects, sequence platform-specific errors, and more. Specific steps can be taken to assess and/or address these errors.
- Considerations and possible methods for the sample and library preparation process as well as 9 cautions to take during these steps.
- Sequencing parameters such as single vs. paired-end runs, read length and number of reads, and depth of coverage that one should consider during sequencing steps.
Module 3: Computational Analysis of NGS Sequenced Data
NGS experiments produce massive amounts of data that require programming scripts to analyze effectively. In this module, you will learn about sequencing file formats, how to do quality control (QC) and prepare data for downstream analyses, and how to do a few basic kinds of sequencing analyses.
Get ready to dive into…
- FASTQ, FASTA, BAM/SAM, GFF/GTF, BED, and VCF Sequencing Formats. How to convert between these formats.
- Programs such as SAMTools, BAMTools, SPAdes, and FASTQC you can use for NGS data analysis.
- Quality control, Reference Genome Indexing, Variant Calling, and Variant Annotation steps of sequencing analysis and programming scripts for executing these steps.
- Statistical and gene expression analysis using NGS data.
Module 4: De Novo Genome Assembly
If you sequence DNA obtained from a species for which there is no reference genome sequencing, you will have to perform a de novo genome assembly. In this module, you will learn how to overcome the unique challenges you will face when performing this task using NGS data as well as how to visualize your results.
Get ready to dive into…
- The 8 steps of genome assembly from FASTQC to gap-filling. The De Brujin Graph Assembly, which is currently the fastest and most accurate method for completing these steps.
- The different challenges involved in phage, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic genome assembly as well as how to address them.
- Gene prediction and annotation to make sense of de novo assembled genomes.
- The Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV) for visualizing data, detecting false variants, and performing other forms of manual characterization and curation.
Fabienne Lucas, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Resident in Clinical Pathology
I began Expert Cytometry as a postdoc in the US after my medical and PhD training in Germany and the UK. I had used flow cytometry for more than 5 years but needed to take a ‘deep dive’ to really understand the technique. I soon became the expert in my lab and helped my peers design their experiments. It was also the impetus for me to apply (and receive) the Mary Lou Ingram Scholarship, and start the MiSET RFC standard while I continue my career in cytometry.
Carina Torres
Core Manager
Eli Lilly & Company
I invited Expert Cytometry to Lilly Pharmaceuticals to teach a two-day comprehensive course; ranging from the fundamentals of flow to the experimental design of assays specific to what I think a lot of biotech companies are doing these days. Afterward, several of our scientists wondered why I didn’t bring in a course like this earlier! Our instructor, Tim Bushnell, Ph.D., educated my users with the background they needed to design their assays most effectively. I immediately noticed the positive impact he had when my users began to ask more informed questions during the planning stages of their experiments. As a busy core manager, it’s difficult to find the time to prepare such a well-designed course like Expert Cytometry offers while trying to stay focused on innovation and maintaining a competitive advantage in the fast-paced industry environment. I’m grateful to the Expert Cytometry team for helping me to keep things moving forward at Lilly.
Miguel Garcia
Head of Flow Cytometry Unit
Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
As a Core Manager, my position requires staying up to date with the latest best practices. Expert Cytometry provided the necessary information on flow cytometry to stay on the cutting edge of the field for a reasonable investment. Overall, the course was really well done by speakers expert on the field and I really appreciated the flexibility of listening to the webinars as needed. Expert Cytometry is wonderful and I would recommend it to beginner as well as advanced flow cytometry professionals.
Amrutesh Puranik, PhD
Senior Staff Scientist
Regeneron
I’m a postdoctoral researcher and know a lot about flow but I needed to learn a few new techniques and execute them before I could get my paper published. I joined Expert Cytometry because they have a good reputation for teaching high-level flow cytometry information very well. I really enjoyed the personal guidance Expert Cytometry offered and was impressed by how much I learned about controls and compensation, experimental design, statistics, and even apoptosis. Expert Cytometry is perhaps the only class that teaches you from scratch how to be a flow cytometry expert.