Hi dear WILDLABS community,

I'm happy to share with you that I'll be providing a Tech Tutor webinar on the 13th of August about portable genomics titled 'How do I use portable genomics in the field?'. To give you a bit of background to my research, I'd like to point towards this recent blog, in which I describe the first part of my PhD research: getting a portable genomics lab to work for identification of nematodes (microscopic worms).
The bigger picture behind my research is that I'm interested in looking into how portable genomics can aid conservation research. One way I believe this can happen is simply because portable genomics tools decrease the starting costs of a genomics lab, which makes it more accessible to research labs on a limited budget. However, portable genomics can also be used in very remote regions, meaning we can take the lab to the samples, instead of the more traditional 'we'll-take-samples-back-to-the-lab' approach.

My main reason for posting this thread is to get to know more about your interests on this topic, so that I can tailor my webinar to your interests. So, if you have a minute to spare, please answer any of the questions below that are relevant to you. I'll try my best to incorporate any feedback you provide into the webinar.

1. Are you interested in portable genomics? If so, what do you want to know about it?
2. Some of the tools I used were the Bento Lab and the MinION, do you have specific questions about these tools?
3. Are there other portable genomics tools you heard about and would like to learn more about? If so, which are these?
4. What kind of genetic research are you doing currently that's using molecular techniques? Do you feel like it would be beneficial to your work if you could perform this genetic research in the field?
5. What type of genomics is your main interest? PCR, qPCR, sequencing?
6. What would be your (research) budget if you were to set up a genomics lab in the field?
7. How many samples do you typically process on eg. a monthly basis?

Feel free to mention anything that might not be covered by these questions above, they are simply meant as a starting point. Also feel free to send any feedback/questions directly to ineke [at] inekeknot.nl or reach out to me on Twitter (@ieknot).