Statement from Nicolo:
Hi! I’m Nicolo, an Italian MSc Biology student from Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, where I specialized in Molecular Ecology. I just finished my thesis on investigating sex determination in invasive lionfish (Pterois miles), which got me hooked on combining lab work with bioinformatics. I’ve always been really interested in applied molecular biology, especially next-generation sequencing technologies like Nanopore for biodiversity monitoring.
I arrived in Sendai on February 1st and have been loving the experience so far. The people in the lab are great and made me feel right at home since day one. I’ve been helping Sang with organizing samples, joined him for field sampling out in Onagawa (which was amazing!), and have been assisting with eDNA extractions and Planktoscope processing. During the Nanopore training workshop in mid-February, I got hands-on experience with library prep and running the GridION for environmental DNA samples across different locations and gene regions. After the workshop, I noticed the bioinformatics workflow was a bit over-complicated, so I introduced the team to EPI2ME, Oxford Nanopore’s platform, and gave everyone a quick tutorial on how to use it. Since then, I’ve been working through the sequenced samples and generating preliminary taxonomic results for our HAB species and broader plankton communities. Outside of lab work, I’ve been enjoying joking around with the friends I made here, playing basketball and volleyball, indulging in the excellent food, and exploring Sendai!