2nd semester

DC1 OCTOBER 23 - MARCH 24 

Month 1: (October 2023) – Extensive research in the field of bioinformatics, related to the outcome of the crash course attended at the end of September 2023, particularly in the direction of HPC (High Performance Computing) metagenomic tools implementation and compatibility. 

Month 2: (November 2023) – Obtained access to the University of Innsbruck’s HPC resources. Started testing different bioinformatic tools and pipelines, in light of the newly gained computational resources, to optimize processing speed and especially output quality. As anticipated in the previous report, preliminary data on cryoconite communities time series is available for processing and analyses. Started a biostatistics course ecology-oriented to gain deeper methodological knowledge to be implemented in the future paper. Collected air samples from the Stubai Glacier to test extraction efficiency. 

Month 3: (December 2023) – Preliminary data briefly presented during midterm check. First extractions on test samples reveal very low DNA contents. Continuous research on bioinformatics and biostatistics. 

Month 4: (January 2024) – More DNA extractions, various protocol modifications to maximize DNA retrieval. Continuous research on bioinformatics and biostatistics. Different assembly and binning testing. 

Month 5: (February 2024) – High school outreach activity in Novara, Italy. Second ICEBIO meeting in Grenoble, France. Continuous research on bioinformatics and biostatistics. 

Month 6: (March 2024) – Reshaping of research question #1 hypotheses in light of new inputs during the Grenoble meeting and consistently low DNA in air samples.