2016 Articles

Cutting Edge: Using mobile sequencers in an academic classroom

Zaaijer, Sophie; Erlich, Yaniv; Columbia University Ubiquitous Genomics 2015 class

The advent of mobile DNA sequencers has made it possible to generate DNA sequencing data outside of laboratories and genome centers. Here, we report our experience of using the MinION, a mobile sequencer, in a 13-week academic course for undergraduate and graduate students. The course consisted of theoretical sessions that presented fundamental topics in genomics and several applied hackathon sessions. In these hackathons, the students used MinION sequencers to generate and analyze their own data and gain hands-on experience in the topics discussed in the theoretical classes. The manuscript describes the structure of our class, the educational material, and the lessons we learned in the process. We hope that the knowledge and material presented here will provide the community with useful tools to help educate future generations of genome scientists.