The Org. One program is fascinating. I would love to be involved. Tonight, I watched the London Calling 2024 session titled “Org.one to 10.” Kara Dicks, Program Manager at Conservation Genomics with Org.one, spoke about the biodiversity crisis. The Org.one program supports local sequencing. The program has supported over ninety projects. Participants receive kits and flow cells. Now, they partnered with New England BioLabs to offer more reagents. For the tenth anniversary, they sequenced ten species. Dicks noted that they are expanding to endangered species now. Heather Ritchie-Parker, a research scientist with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, spoke about biobanks and facilities to support the exchange of genetic material. These high-quality samples can be used to produce reference materials. Ben Price from the Natural History Museum in the UK spoke about projects they are involved with, including the large copper butterfly. Price shared a biodiversity periodic table representing the fraction of the biodiversity sequenced. Price and team are focusing on “barcoding the tree of life.” In 2023, they sequenced the extinct copper butterfly and are now using the genome to explore the reintroduction of other related species. Dicks answered a question about the pipeline to participate in Org.one. Once the sample has been identified, sequencing resources and potential collaborators are identified. Flow cells and supplies are provided, and participants are expected to upload raw data within six weeks. Price answered a question about the challenges and excitement of exploring museum samples from the past. They noted that samples often have fungal and human reads that must be dealt with. Dicks answered a question about the quality of the genomes produced with Org.one projects. For most, they aim for 20X coverage for a draft genome. Ritchie-Parker explained the significance of the samples they sequenced at London Calling 2024. They discussed the feasibility of breeding programs and the impact of having a reference genome. Price concluded the session by thanking those who prepared the thousands of amplicons for the barcoding sequencing experiment. I am interested in Org.one and continue learning by watching these recordings to learn about potential projects.
