About FAME
The Flinders Accelerator for Microbiome Exploration, FAME, is a new interdisciplinary research group at Flinders University with the mission of expanding access to microbiome and metagenomics approaches to accelerate the development of microbiome research across the biosphere!
Professor Robert Edwards, a computer science and biology expert, and marine biologist Professor Elizabeth Dinsdale, a pioneer in the ecology of microbial and viral communities, have moved to South Australia from San Diego State University, California to set up the Flinders Accelerator for Microbiome Exploration (FAME) research group.
FAME will work with any group to better understand how the microbiome is affecting their area of research, providing scientific support for experimental design, sample collection, data generation (DNA sequencing), bioinformatics and statistical analysis. FAME will offer one-on-one consulting or workshops to assist with every step of the process from collecting samples, extracting DNA, sequence library preparation, through bioinformatics and data analysis.
Rob Edwards
Rob is the Director of Bioinformatics and Human Microbiology for the Flinders Accelerator for Microbiome Exploration (FAME). He coordinates the computational analysis of DNA sequences associated with the microbiome. Although Rob’s research focus is on the human microbiome, he has also published work on many different environments.
Check out Rob’s Flinders profile for more info
Liz Dinsdale
My research uses genomics to investigate the biodiversity and ecology of microbes and viruses on coral reefs, kelp forest and shark epidermis. I am interested in understanding how microbial and viral function responds to environmental pressures and affects the health of the host and ecosystem. I have developed novel tools, undergraduate education programs and international workshops to analyze metagenomics data and understand the structure of host microbiomes. I demonstrated that the functional attributes of microbial and viral metagenomes could distinguish across biomes.