Feb 1, 2022 Online

Konrad Förstner on microbiome data and information science

As our first external guest in 2022, we are thrilled to welcome Konrad Förstner,  who holds a joint professorship for Data and Information Literacy from the ZB MED – Information Center for Life Sciences and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln).

The Förstner group develops data science methods and information services for the life sciences. In particular, the team of bioinformaticians focuses on mining the large datasets resulting from next-generation sequencing technologies. In the field of microbiome research, the Förstner group explores a wide spectrum of topics, including epidemiological surveillance, bacterial biodiversity, small RNA regulation in bacterial pathogens, or the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The ever-increasing volume of microbiome data calls for the development of new data management solutions. In October 2021, supported by the German Joint Science Conference (GWK), Konrad Förstner and his co-lead Alice McHardy (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) launched the NFDI4Microbiota, a consortium of ten partner institutions in Germany. The mission of the consortium is to support the German microbiology community and become its central hub for microbiome data analysis, data sharing, and researcher training.

Konrad Förstner will give an NCCR talk entitled: ‘NFDI4Microbiota – Establishing a culture of FAIR data and Open Science in the microbiology community’. The seminar will take place on 1 February 2022, from 12h00 to 13h00 CET. You can access this public seminar through this Zoom link.