At the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG), sharing scientific knowledge through training and outreach is a core tenet. The national research facility, founded by Dr. Paul Hebert at the University of Guelph, uses DNA-based technology, termed DNA barcoding, to identify the millions of species that call Earth home.
Through DNA sequencing, digital imaging and high-performance computing, CBG has curated the world's largest DNA library with more than 15 million specimens. However, the work is just getting started as the bulk of species out there have yet to be identified.
Travelling to Peru, Ghana to teach DNA barcoding technology
This summer, members of the CBG team received invitations to travel to institutions in Peru and Ghana to guide graduate students and selected delegates through the complete DNA barcoding workflow - from field collection through DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequencing, data curation, visualization and final analysis.
"As much of the world's biodiversity lies in the Global South, it is critical that we build scientific capacity in these nations," Hebert says. "Our recent training programs in Peru and West Africa were enabled by new sequencing technologies and by our development of an integrated package of chemware and analytical software."
The initiative is part of the International Barcode of Life consortium (iBOL), which supports researchers and organizations across 40 countries in its aim to complete the inventory of all life on our planet through DNA analysis.
"Through education, the CBG is building capacity and strengthening global biodiversity research empowering the next generation of scientists to better understand, document and protect the natural world," says Dr. Ken Thompson, evolutionary ecologist at CBG. "Training scientists across the globe in these techniques is critical to advance our mission."
At the University of Ghana, Thompson and Dr. Spencer Monckton, taxonomy lead at the CBG, together with Dr. Michelle van der Bank and her colleagues from the University of Johannesburg worked with 35 students, researchers, consultants and government officials from Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Guinea.
"The reality across much of Africa is that molecular biology is far less accessible than we're used to in the West," says Monckton. "One of our primary objectives with the workshop was to try and bridge that gap by equipping delegates with the knowledge and skills to access DNA barcoding more easily."
Through lectures, computer and lab training, participants took a hands-on approach to documenting biodiversity using DNA barcoding technology, a tool that makes species identification faster, more accurate and more accessible.
Education is a 'life-changing opportunity'
Thompson is part of the CBG's innovation team, where research and development are used to create more efficient tools for DNA barcoding. It has recently been developing ONTOLOGY, an integrated suite of software and chemware, that the program's participants trained on.
"These participants had serious drive; they would ask for homework and were often working late into the night," Thompson says. "They were eager to learn."
Working with species from Peru and West Africa, the program proved a learning experience for the experts as well. In Lima, the team worked with a mix of insects, plankton and other specimens; in Ghana they worked with insects. The specimens were provided from the participants' ongoing research, and by the end of the course each student had completed a project analyzing their data and then presented it.
"If you pair the right instructor and the right student, there are fewer things that could be more impactful or meaningful," Thompson says.
Echoing that, Monckton says, "When you introduce people to new tools, they can't wait to put them to work in all kinds of creative ways. It's exciting to see the positive impact of our work unfold in real time."
Before departing, Monckton and Thompson offered to assist the participants with their analyses or future learnings, and several have already reached out. The team is maintaining their relationship with the Peru participants as well, who are travelling to CBG for an exchange with U of G.
"There is so much interest in what we do at CBG," Thompson says. "It is extremely rewarding. Education really is a life-changing opportunity for people."
