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The Elephant in the Room: Data Provenance & Authenticity in Microbial Genomics

Purple, fragmented DNA double helix strand on a black background.

Abstract

Breaks in the data provenance between biological source materials and genomics data are challenges for scientific reproducibility, as errors or omissions in both the metadata and the sequence data end up hampering accurate interpretation of results. To address this issue, ATCC is working towards 100% data provenance of all biological materials in our collection. The ATCC Genome Portal represents the first genomic data repository where whole-genome sequencing, assembly, and genome annotation are being consistently applied under a quality assurance program that requires all data and procedures are fully authenticated and traceable back to physical biological materials in our culture collection. Attend this symposium to learn more about the importance of data provenance in genomics and ATCC’s approach to producing high-quality, authenticated reference genomes.

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Presenter

Jonathan Jacobs, headshot.

Jonathan Jacobs, PhD

Senior Director of Bioinformatics, ATCC

Dr. Jonathan Jacobs leads ATCC’s Sequencing & Bioinformatics Center and the development of the ATCC Genome Portal. He has over 20 years of experience in molecular genetics, bioinformatics, and microbial genomics, and he has worked throughout his career at the interface of academia, government, and industry. He holds a joint Research Professor appointment at Syracuse University’s Forensic & National Security Sciences Institute in support of microbial forensics graduate student training and research, and he actively collaborates with several US public health laboratories involved in pathogen genomics research and surveillance. Dr. Jacobs is also certified in Product Management from Pragmatic Institute, and he has led successful commercial launches of several bioinformatics products into the market.

DNA rods with bacteria.

Reference-quality sequences

Through the ATCC Genome Portal, you can easily search, access, and analyze thousands of reference-quality genome sequences. Our optimized methodology is designed to achieve complete, circularized (when biologically appropriate), and contiguous genomic elements by using short-read (virology collection) and hybrid (bacteriology, mycology, and protistology collections) assembly techniques. We then take our workflow one step further by accompanying each stage of the process with rigorous quality control analyses that ensure the highest quality data. Only the data that passes all quality control criteria are published to the ATCC Genome Portal. Visit the portal today to find the high-quality data you need for your research.

Visit the portal