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Teaching Resources

This page provides educators with a collection of instructional materials designed to support the integration of Nanopore sequencing into classroom and laboratory settings. Whether you are introducing DNA sequencing concepts, guiding students through hands-on sequencing experiments, or developing bioinformatics skills, these resources will help facilitate engaging and effective teaching.

How to Contribute

We welcome contributions from educators! If you have developed lesson plans, presentations, assessments, or other teaching materials, please consider sharing To contribute, contact williams@cshl.edu.

Slide Presentations

This section includes downloadable slides that educators can use for lectures and classroom discussions.

Videos

Here, you will find educational videos that explain key concepts and demonstrate laboratory techniques.

Assessments

To gauge student understanding, we provide quizzes, problem sets, and concept questions.

Comming soon.

Collections, curricular Plans, handouts, and Materials

For educators designing course modules or research-based experiences.

  • Fulfilling the Promise of Nanopore Sequencing in Education

    Author: The attendees of the September 2024 Banbury Meeting
    • Description: This website contains more than 20 abstracts and presentations relevant to Nanopore sequencing in education

    Website: Fulfilling the Promise of Nanopore Sequencing in Education - The Banbury Center Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory September 21–24, 2024

    Meeting Summary:

    Nanopore sequencing technology offers inexpensive, real-time analysis of individual DNA molecules—potentially making DNA sequencing available anytime, anyplace, to anyone. This technology holds particular promise in bioscience education, where we envision a miniature Nanopore sequencer in every teaching lab, with students at all levels generating and exploring meaningful data.

    For these reasons, we held a small meeting, “Fulfilling the Promise of Nanopore Sequencing in Education,” on September 21–24 at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Against this backdrop, 25 scientists and educators met at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Banbury Center in September to discuss how to fulfill this promise of nanopore sequencing in education. During the meeting, we learned of large existing audiences of students who could readily use nanopore sequencing for projects on DNA barcoding (popularized by the DNALC ), bacteriophage analysis (popularized by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute), and identification of antibiotic-producing bacteria (popularized by the University of Wisconsin). We also heard great examples of nanopore class projects – from assessing microbial diversity in local waterways to cataloging plants visited by bees, to sequencing daffodil chloroplast genomes.

    Attendees joined break out groups to discuss the promises and challenges of Nanopore sequencing, as well as proposals for broad implementation. Key themes included sustained training, resource accessibility, and community collaboration. Continuous mentorship, including virtual teaching assistants and "train-the-trainer" programs were seen as vital for long-term success. Participants highlighted the importance of creating user-friendly kits and clear protocols to make genomic research accessible across educational levels. Partnerships among educational institutions, industry, and community organizations are crucial for sharing resources and fostering a genomics-literate workforce. The DNALC, which signed an MOU with Oxford Nanopore last year, will continue working with the organizations represented at the meeting as we lay groundwork for popularizing this technology into the classroom.

    This meeting is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (#1821657), and Advanced Technological Education (#1901984). Additional travel support is provided by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

    Organized by:

    • Anna Feitzinger, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center
    • Dave Micklos, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center
    • Jonathan Pugh, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
    • Jason Williams, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center

  • Collection: 16S Barcoding microbiome study

    Author: Hui-Min Chung, University of Western Florida

    • Description: Files based on materials shared with TAs when preparing the microbiome project in my genetics lab when we prepared the microbiome project.

      • Application of Nanopore seq tech in Undergraduate Research: Walk through–16S barcoding kit

      • Application of Nanopore seq tech in microbiome study: 16S Barcoding project

      • 16S Barcoding Library Preperation

Key Papers

This section includes foundational and recent research papers on Nanopore sequencing and its applications in education and research. These papers provide background on the technology, its capabilities, and best practices for implementation in the classroom.

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