The curriculum covers a broad range of topics, including the significance of microbes in environmental processes, experimental design, data analysis and management and career development in microbiome science. You will learn practical skills for current and future researchers, regardless of institution type.
This course is the result of a partnership. The content was developed collaboratively with researchers, educators, microbiome scientists and the National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) Ambassadors & Champions. The leader of the program is Julia Kelliher, Ph.D., Los Alamos National Laboratory & NMDC. She and her team of ambassadors developed the content. The American Society for Microbiology is responsible for course hosting, delivery and maintenance.
The Certificate Program is comprised of 12 modules or lessons, each addressing an important aspect of environmental microbiome science:
- Microbes & Our World: Introduction to Environmental Microbiome Science.
- Multi-omics for Environmental Microbiomes.
- Experimental Design for Microbiome Studies.
- Metadata, Data Stewardship & Data Management.
- Environmental Microbiome Sampling, Preparation & Processing.
- Sequencing & Sample Analysis.
- Microbiome Data Analysis.
- Microbiome Data Integration, Visualization & Interpretation.
- Data Deposition, Data Accessibility & Data Reuse.
- Publishing, Funding & Grant Writing for Microbiome Studies.
- Education & Career Paths in Microbiome Science.
- Career Development in Microbiome Science.
Learning Goals
Having completed all learning activities, participants will be able to:- Understand and communicate the importance of environmental microbiome research and how it impacts everyday life.
- Explain what multi-omics is and how it can be used to answer research questions in environmental microbiome research.
- Design effective microbiome experiments from start to finish.
- Demonstrate an enhanced ability to read scientific publications and interpret microbiome figures and data.
- Describe how microbiome research is funded and outline the process of writing grants.
- Articulate how microbiome research is published and how microbiome data, metadata and information can be accessed.
- Assess different career paths in microbiome science and identify resources available to achieve your career goals.
How will you learn?
- This is an online course with no live sessions and no instructor. All learning is self-paced. Your work will be saved in your account, so that you can return to this course to continue learning at your own pace.
- The learning materials require engagement with written materials. For each module, the learner will engage with a slide deck, an open-access journal article and a resource list.
- There is a multiple-choice quiz for every module. A score of 80% on all module quizzes and viewing of all resources is a requirement to achieve the ASM Certificate of Completion.
- We expect this course to take a minimum of 24 hours to complete. Course finishers can download an ASM Certificate of Completion, but this course is not available for credit through accreditors or institutions of higher education.
Intended Audience
- Any microbial scientist with an interest in learning more about microbiomes. This is available to anyone; there is no application process.
- The content is presented at the level of a person who has taken a 2-course college-level introductory biology.
- This program could also function as independent study for undergraduates in degree-seeking programs. However, ASM does not award credit toward degrees or programs.
Program Cost
- ASM members (all categories except supporting members or student member): $100.
- Non-members (non-members or ASM supporting members): $200.
All registrants will receive a link to all content in the course for 1 year from date of purchase.
Purchase or renew your ASM membership before enrolling to save on the registration fee and engage with ASM year-round!