The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) and its Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB) remain the world’s leader in barcoding, hosting the largest molecular analytical platform and informatics core of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). It occupies a 50,000 ft2 facility on the University of Guelph campus, housing faculty, research, and technical staff and students working in varied basic and applied aspects of DNA barcoding.
Since 2005 this facility has hosted hundreds of visitors from around the world, conducting overview tours of our high-throughput facility, convening training seminars, and providing hands-on experience in the field of biodiversity genomics, particularly DNA barcoding. Its researchers have led several training workshops abroad and provided expert advice to international partners in setting up DNA barcoding workflows in their own facilities around the globe.
In 2014, these efforts consolidated into a dedicated Research Training Program in DNA Barcoding which offers participants a structured, comprehensive hands-on experience of the entire analytical chain from collection management, through core laboratory operations, to bioinformatics approaches. It also provides a detailed behind-the-scenes preview of standard operations of the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding. This is a four-week program involving at least 120 hours of instruction, discussions, and supervised practical sessions. Training activities take place in a designated visitor training lab, with guided tours to different parts of the facility’s core operational units. This allows participants to experience standard barcoding workflows in a medium- throughput lab setting, and to observe their high throughout analytical implementation.
Partnering with the online course in DNA barcoding offered by the University of Guelph, this Research Training Program complements theoretical background with practical skills.
