The human microbiome represents a diverse community of microbes with important roles for the maintenance of human health. The wealth of metagenomics data currently available has brought about a new era of research for the human microbiome field. The ability to reconstruct high-quality microbial genomes purely from metagenomic sequencing data has unlocked our ability to study the hidden microbial universe living alongside us. Given there are thousands of human-associated bacterial species that cannot yet be experimentally characterised, there is a need to develop and apply bioinformatics methods to better understand their role in health and disease. 

This webinar will provide an overview of current metagenomic approaches to study the human microbiome and introduce several statistical methods that can be used to link its composition and function to different human phenotypes and populations.

You may either watch the entire presentation from the introduction or navigate directly to a specific section by clicking the links provided below:

• Introduction

• The microbiome in human biology

• What can metagenomics tell us?

• What is genome assembly?

• Evaluating genome (MAG) quality

• Linking microbiome composition to phenotype

• Additional resources

• Q&A