January Monthly Seminar recap

Since October 2023, PIG-PARADIGM has been hosting Monthly Seminars to help project participants learn more about different disciplines and research areas within the initiative. This knowledge-sharing platform has been promoting interaction and collaboration across pillars and institutions, and we’re excited to continue this tradition in 2025.

Kicking off the first Monthly Seminar of the year, the Data Integration Pillar took the lead. Mani Arumugam, Chair of the Pillar and Associate Professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, gave an insightful presentation titled "Reconstructing high-quality microbial genomes from complex metagenomes: promises and pitfalls."

This talk provided an educational overview of the concepts, advantages, and challenges of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Mani highlighted the importance of MAGs in uncovering microbial diversity, understanding community functions, and enabling the characterization of complex microbiomes. Key topics included strategies for assembling and binning genomes from metagenomic data, evaluating genome quality using standardized metrics, and addressing common pitfalls such as misassemblies, contamination, and biases.

The presentation emphasized how advancements in bioinformatics and sequencing technologies have expanded the potential of MAGs, particularly in the reliable reconstruction of the piglet microbiome in some of the PIG-PARADIGM studies. This work aims to provide a better understanding of the piglet gut microbiome's role in connection with postweaning diarrhea, ultimately supporting improved animal health and combat antimicrobial resistance.

We look forward to more engaging sessions that continue to inspire collaboration and knowledge-sharing within PIG-PARADIGM!