Werner Siemens-Stiftung Paleobiotechnology Kolloquium

Genomic Evolution of Microbial Functions: Past to present

The Department of Palaeobiotechnology (Leibniz-HKI) and Microbiome Sciences group (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) are happy to invite you to the second event of the ‘Werner Siemens Palaeobiotechnology Kolloquium’

Advances in high throughput sequencing and computational metagenomics are opening up dramatic new opportunities for understanding the structure and complex functions of diverse microbiomes. At the same time, the rise of paleogenomics is enabling the study of microbial communities deeper and deeper into the past. It is now possible, for the first time, to combine these advances to investigate microbiome functional evolution over the past 100,000 years in high resolution. This colloquium brings together diverse experts in microbial genomics, computational biology, evolutionary biology, and archaeology to explore and imagine the future of microbial paleogenomic research and the emerging field of paleobiotechnology.

Keywords: natural products, microbial evolution, phylogenomics, biosynthetic gene clusters, metagenomics, ancient DNA, disease dynamics, pathogens, epidemiology,

We will have four speakers giving short lectures and a question round on ‘Genomic Evolution Of Microbial Functions: Past To Present’ and then a graduate-only social coffee break to allow free discussions with the speakers in an informal setting.

If you are a graduate student (M.Sc/Ph.D. or equivalent), and would like the chance to informally meet, network, or ask questions directly to any of the speakers, registrations for the graduate coffee session event can be made here.

In this event, we will hear from:

• Elke Dittmann (University of Potsdam, DE)
• Denise Kühnert (Robert Koch Institute, DE; MPI of Geoanthropology, DE)
• Marnix Medema (Wageningen University, NL)
• Thomas Booth (Technical University of Denmark, DK)

For further information, please contact James Fellows Yates (james.fellows-yates@leibniz-hki.de)