icddr,b holds first course on metagenomics, nutrition and health

For the last two weeks, an international group of scientists have been meeting at icddr,b to share their understanding of metagenomics, nutrition and health with local researchers. Hosted by icddr,b’s Centre for Nutrition & Food Security in collaboration with scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA this is the first course of its kind to be held in Bangladesh.

Metagenomics: a new research field

In metagenomics, genomic analysis (the analysis of all the DNA in an organism) is applied to entire communities of microbes (including bacteria, viruses, and some fungi), which bypasses the need to isolate and culture individual microbial species. This opens doors to a tremendous amount of scientific exploration. “Metagenomics is a new field of research that has transformed our view of the 100 trillion microbes that inhabits each of our bodies from a ‘war on bacteria’ to a ‘garden we need to cultivate in order to stay healthy’, explains Dr. Dinesh Mondal, the icddr,b scientist coordinating the event. “It enables us to recognise the complexity and diversity of our microflora, strengthens the evidence for their importance and hints as to what might happen when our internal microbial balance is disturbed. When we think of human health – and health care – we must keep our microbial co-inhabitants in mind”.

New field, new challenges

To explore the microbiota and their role in human health, tools for microbial community analysis are needed. The ability to collect sequence data is increasing at an astonishing rate; it is literally millions of times cheaper to sequence DNA than it was a few years ago. Advances in sequencing have transformed our ability to understand the microbial communities associated with many aspects of human health and disease, including malnutrition and diarrheal diseases. The bottleneck is now computation. However, the advent of cloud computing in particular eliminates the burden of setting up complex computational infrastructure, because analyses can be performed in the cloud instead of on local hardware.

Opening doors, opening collaborations

Metagenomics is a relatively new area of scientific research in Bangladesh, but the discipline has been developing rapidly in many international research centres, especially in North America. The two-week icddr,b course is intended to bridge the gap in knowledge between Bangladeshi researchers and their colleagues in other parts of the world. “The most enlightening part of the conference was learning more about the use of QUIME—a popular tool for metadata analysis—which hasn’t really taken off in the research community in Bangladesh”, says Dr. Mondal.

“A few years ago, I published a paper on the use of metagenomics to understand the genetic causes or base of malnutrition.” explains the director of icddr,b’s Centre for Nutrition & Food Security, Dr. Tahmeed Ahmed. “At the course opening, I met several scientists who had found my data useful, and we are now thinking of collaborations to take our research to the next level. Events such as the one we are hosting are absolutely integral in exchanging ideas and future plans”.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the course was held on 5 February at icddr,b’s Sasakawa auditorium. Prof. Syed Saleheen Qadri, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka and Prof. Rob Knight, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA were special guest. Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, executive director, icddr,b chaired the course’s inaugural ceremony. 

For more details, contact Faruq Hasan