Keynote: From Wrong Reads to Long Reads - Dr. Rob Knight

For the next installment of our collaborative seminar series with Center for Microbiome Innovation, we're excited to feature a Keynote Presentation from renowned pioneer of microbiome research, Dr. Rob Knight!

Keynote: Making the transition from wrong reads to long reads - Dr. Rob Knight

Abstract: Microbiome studies have made dramatic advances based on short-read technologies, but quantitative long read sequencing on the PacBio Revio platform offers transformative advances. Here I highlight the dramatic advances available on this platform, and how it complements other CMI capabilities including spatial sequencing, rapid amplicon sequencing, metabolomics, metaproteomics, and phylogenetics to provide much better performance both on traditional microbiome tasks (alpha and beta diversity, taxonomy) and on emerging ones (data-derived reference genomes for genome-scale reconstruction and for proteomics, genome mining for metabolomics, digital twins). I end by highlighting which applications are successful right now, and which could be developed in partnership with microbiome labs across campus studying a range of different human, animal model, and environmental systems. Together, as a community, we have the potential to bring about a transition in microbiome research as profound as the transition from gels to sequencing.

🔬 Event Highlights:

• Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rob Knight - UC San Diego
• Sponsor Speaker: Drew Kebbel - Complete Genomics
• Networking Time + Refreshments Provided

📌 Key Details:

• Date: Wednesday, September 17th
• Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm
• > 1:30–2:00 PM: Sponsor Presentation: Complete Genomics
• > 2:00–3:00 PM: Keynote Lecture: Dr. Rob Knight
• > 3:00-3:30 PM: Networking and Refreshments
• Location: Duane Roth Auditorium, Sanford Consortium
• Refreshments will be provided!

🧪 Scientific Program:

Keynote Lecture: Making the transition from wrong reads to long reads

Dr. Rob Knight - Founder and Faculty Director, Center for Microbiome Innovation, UC San Diego

Bio: Rob Knight is the founding Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and Professor of Pediatrics, Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. He is the Wolfe Family Endowed Chair in Microbiome Research. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2024. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology. He was honored with the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his microbiome research and received the 2017 Massry Prize, often considered a predictor of the Nobel. He is the author of “Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes” (Simon & Schuster, 2015), coauthor of “Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), and written over 900 scientific articles. He spoke at TED in 2014 which is viewed over 2.2 million times. His lab has produced many of the software tools and laboratory techniques that enabled high-throughput microbiome science, including the QIIME pipeline (cited over 50,000 times as of this writing) and UniFrac (cited over 15,000 times including its web interface). He is co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project, the American Gut Project, and the company Biota, Inc., which uses DNA from microbes in the subsurface to guide oilfield decisions. His work has linked microbes to a range of health conditions including obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, has enhanced our understanding of microbes in environments ranging from the oceans to the tundra, and made high-throughput sequencing techniques accessible to thousands of researchers around the world. Dr. Knight can be followed on Twitter (@knightlabnews) or on his web site http://knightlab.ucsd.edu/.

Sponsor Presentation: NGS and Spatial Transcriptomics Services at the Center for Microbiome Innovation

Drew Kebbel - Technical Sales Specialist, Complete Genomics

Bio: Drew Kebbel is a biotechnology expert with over 18 years of experience in NGS, single-cell, and spatial transcriptomics technologies. Prior to joining Complete Genomics as a Technical Sales Specialist, he held commercial roles at 10x Genomics, Illumina, and Veranome Biosystems, specializing in technical sales and customer support. With a background in biomedical engineering and molecular biology, Drew enjoys partnering with researchers to implement innovative genomic solutions in cancer, microbiome, and spatial biology research.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Sanford Consortium, 2880 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, San Diego, United States