Webinar
The transition to automated library prep for enhanced pathogen surveillance workflows

Environmental monitoring requires scalable sequencing capabilities to enable communities to make important decisions surrounding public health. Data generated from these localized population studies also helps build phylogenetic trees that further our understanding of infectious disease transmission.

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About this webinar

In this webinar, Krystal Sheridan, from the Translational Genomics Research Institute, will discuss the institute’s path in automating sequencing workflows using the firefly and Watchmaker DNA Library Prep Kit with Fragmentation to meet the needs of Arizona’s first statewide invasive group A strep surveillance project.

Her talk will review the reason behind their decision to automate, the practical considerations and insights learned from their process optimizations, and their approach to kit selection in ultimately building out their WGS workflow.

Key learning points: 
  • Learn about the Group A strep surveillance project, data generated, and community impact
  • Reasons, including practical considerations, behind their decision to automate
  • Insights and outcomes from their process optimization in the lab

 

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Speakers

Krystal Sheridan,
Sequencing Laboratory Supervisor - Pathogen Genomics Translational Genomics Research Institute

Krystal Sheridan is the sequencing laboratory supervisor for TGen North, a non-profit research institute located in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she works with TGen investigators to optimize their sequencing workflows, coordinate sequencing projects, and develop NGS standards.

Her role also includes managing TGen North’s HIVE Lab, a high-throughput sequencing lab that provides internal library prep and sequencing services for TGen’s larger-scale projects. Before this role, Sheridan was the manager of the Collaborative Sequencing Center at TGen’s headquarters in Phoenix, and sequencing coordinator for the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona University.

She has nine years of experience in non-profit research, primarily with pathogen genomics and NGS workflows. She is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and lives with her partner, daughter, four cats, and three dogs in the beautiful mountains of Arizona.

 

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Eleanor Matrullo, M.S.
Automation Program Manager - Watchmaker Genomics

Eleanor Matrullo is the automation program manager at Watchmaker Genomics, building out the automation support offering for Watchmaker’s DNA and RNA library prep solutions on popular third-party liquid handling platforms.

Matrullo has over nine years of experience automating NGS assays on a variety of platforms. Before joining Watchmaker, she led the applications team at Tecan, before which she was a senior automation field application scientist at Roche.

She holds a Master of Science degree in applied genomics and a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular and cell biology, both from the University of Connecticut.

 

 

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Melissa Netwal
Field Application Scientist - SPT Labtech

Melissa Netwal is a field applications scientist at SPT Labtech, focused on SPT Labtech’s newest liquid handler, the firefly, for genomics applications. Netwal has over eight years of experience in the industry.

Prior to joining SPT Labtech in the fall of 2022, Netwal worked as an R&D scientist at Bay Area start-up companies Zymergen and Demetrix, using various automation platforms for microbial and enzyme engineering.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular and cell biology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.