As a wet lab biologist who is now doing more #Bioinformatics projects than lab work, I just want to share my journey of how I got here. And thank some of the many people that helped along the way. It all started with my first @PAG / PAG ASIA in 2014…

It was all about the @wheatgenome sequencing project and I was amazed by how it had all come together. All I was interested in though was how to track wild relative introgressions in wheat using the array we developed with @University of Bristol Biological Sciences…Simples. Umm not so much..

It took a year and another @PAG / PAG ASIA before I learnt how to use the softwares, command line and configured the process to suit our unique germplasm. Lots of emails that started with…you probably don’t know me but I saw your talk and was wondering if you can help me out.

Our first paper in 2016 on tracking Am. muticum introgressions in wheat was a step change. We published similar studies with other wild species then hit another roadblock. The array couldn’t tell if segments were now homozygous in selfed lines.

We needed a new genotyping method and with BLAST as my only bioinformatics skill I felt a bit helpless & out of my depth. With support from many of my peers @homonecloco @Laura-Jayne Gardiner I spent the next 2 years developing chromosome specific KASP that tracked our introgressions.

My skills were so limited that everything was a long winded process. SNP discovery was cumbersome - happening through sequence alignment of PCR products! The whole lab stepped in to do the PCRs while I analysed the sequencing data. Took ages and a baby to publish the results!

@Anthony Hall Lab 🌾 stepped in with whole genome sequencing of the wild species under @Designing Future Wheat programme & provided us with invaluable SNPs for KASP development… thanks @Ryan Joynson @Benedict Coombes

But as things went on I wanted to be able to do what everyone else was doing. Basic genomics and maybe if I was crazy enough de novo genome assembly of our wild species. Turns out I was crazy enough.

I needed bioinformatics skills & so at the height of the first lockdown I took basic online courses and then started a part time apprenticeship MRes Bioinformatics Scientist. Thanks @Adam Blanchard @Michael Wilson @Dr Sarah Storr @Angus Davidson 🇿🇦 for your support over the last 2.5 yrs

It gave me the confidence to explore established & new pipelines, google the right questions (& errors!), implement solutions from forums, understand and customise code. I have a long way to go but couldn’t have done it without this course. Also, I passed with minor corrections!

It gave me the basic skills to take on some advanced courses by @Physalia-courses@ONLINE on genome assembly and comparative genomics. Thanks to instructors @Marcela Uliano-Silva @Fritz Sedlazeck @Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP) who showed us how to do it step by step.

It has been a steep (vertical almost) learning curve but I’m happy to report that over the last 6 months I’ve produced a chromosome-scale genome assembly of a wheat relative using @PacBio HiFi and @Arima Genomics HiC & with support on curation by @Wellcome Sanger Tree of Life Programme …watch this space

Massive effort and not possible without everyone @Wheat_ResearchCentre I’m especially grateful for the support of my mentors Ian @Ian King and Julie King and @Stella Edwards over all these years and many of my colleagues @UoNBiosciences @Plant Science Nottingham @UoNFutureFood

As I prepare for my maternity leave next week I just want to say to all our junior lab members @Nikki Walter @Jack Walker @Jake Hill @veronicaguwela @Manel Othmeni thanks for your support too and remember the learning never stops! So never give up…keep the flame going!

Thanks to @Levi Yant 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸 @John Fellers @Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research @UK Research and Innovation @Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and @The Royal Society for your support too!