Our world is littered with microbial life. From the phytoplankton in the oceans to the bacteria in your gut to the mycorrhizae that form connections between plants in a forest, it is not an overstatement to say that we wouldn’t be alive without them.

In this 5-week course, you will learn a powerful technique for using genetic information to explore the complexity of the microbial world.

Sessions will be held every Wednesday evening from February 11 to March 11, from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.

YOU WILL LEARN

• Identify the major groups of microbes and how they differ from each other

• Extract DNA from soil, water, and similar environmental samples

• Amplify, isolate, and purify target DNA using PCR and gel electrophoresis

• Use cutting-edge software to analyze sequence data