Tuesday, June 23, 2015

New paper published: Applications of next generation sequencing to the study of biological invasions

"Genomics holds the key to understanding ecological and evolutionary processes
Scientists call for a gap between genomics and invasion biology to be bridged

Scientists at the University of Southampton think that Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) of invasive organisms holds the key to furthering our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes."

Read more at the University of Southampton website.

Paper Reference: Rius M, Bourne S, Hornsby HG, Chapman MA. 2015. Applications of next generation sequencing to the study of biological invasions. Current Zoology 61: 488–504

Monday, June 8, 2015

Xavier Turon visits Marc Rius at Southampton

by Xavier turon

Xavier Turon at the entrance hall of NOC with the figurehead of the HMS Challenger. No less!
I have performed a research stay with Marc Rius at the National Oceanography Center of Southampton (NOC), invited by the University of Southampton where Marc is associate professor, from 25th May to 6th ­June.

We have been working on ongoing research about the validity of commonly used primers for barcoding genes in the group of ascidians, as part of our efforts to develop efficient metabarcoding markers for invertebrates. The results of this stay will be expanded to other groups and published.

We also sampled marinas in the Southampton area looking for Didemnum vexillum, and could get a couple of good populations from the area. It was a pleasure to share these two productive weeks with Marc and his students... and of course with his family as well.