Micro B3 Summer School in Crete 2014 finished

As part of the MicroB3 workshop series, a Summer School focusing on standardized sampling and analysis of microbial diversity and function was held at HCMR (Hellenic Centre for Marine Research), Heraklion, from the 26th of May to the 6th of June, 2014. 23 students from four continents and 12 countries attended the Summer School. 

Key lecturers, mainly from the Micro B3 consortium, but also from other prestigious Institutes and Universities delivered high quality training on marine microbial biodiversity.

The first week of the course focused mainly on sampling methodology and on the subsequent analyses steps. A boat trip with the R/V PHILIA was organized, along with a sampling event on a mesocosm facility, in order for the trainees to compare both techniques and methodologies. During the second week of the course, the focus shifted to bioinformatics for analyzing metagenomics data, using the datasets generated from the pilot OSD studies.

The course was delivered using a mixture of lectures, practical hands-on work, computer sessions and discussion. Throughout the course, there was excellent opportunity for networking. In addition, there was opportunity for the trainees to review the OSD Handbook and address key issues regarding the sampling methodology, as an important step towards the preparation for the Ocean Sampling Day on the 21st of June 2014.

The course's social and networking events were an excursion at the Lassithi Plateau (Diktaion Andron cave) and at the island of Spinalonga, and a beach party, at a beach close to HCMR. The excursion was kindly sponsored by SafeBlood Bioanalytica (http://www.sbbio.gr/)".