Meals & Accommodations at the Queen's University Biological Station - Opinicon Campus - are included in the registration fee. We can provide transportation from Kingston. If participants are driving themselves (directions), parking is available. Before arriving we will refer you to some video and PDF resources including a video introduction to eDNA that you should view before arriving.
| DAY | TIMES | ACTIVITY |
| Sunday May 12 | Late afternoon | Arrival at QUBS - meet at the Raleigh J. Robertson Biodiversity Centre |
| 5:30-6:30 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00-8:00 PM | Welcome to QUBS and Introductions | |
| Monday May 13 | 7:30-8:30 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:00-10:15 AM | Presentation: Introduction to eDNA study design | |
| 10:15-10:30 AM | Break | |
| 10:30AM-noon | Presentation: Overview of fieldwork, sampling, filtration, transport, storage & extraction | |
| 12:00-1:00 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:00-2:15 PM | Presentation: Introduction to assays: quantitative PCR, digital PCR & metabarcoding | |
| 2:15-2:30 PM | Break | |
| 2:30-5:30 PM | Field practicum: Sampling water + metadata collection + water filtration | |
| 5:30-6:30 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00-8:30 PM | Lab demo: DNA extraction. | |
| Tuesday May 14 | 7:30-8:30 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:00-11:00 AM | Lab Practicum: DNA extraction of samples collected Monday - (QIAGEN Powerwater kit, QIAGEN Powersoil kit) part 1 | |
| 11:00-11:15 AM | Break | |
| 11:15-12:15 | BioRad Demo: qPCR & ddPCR Part 1 | |
| 12:00-1:00 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:00-3:30 PM | BioRad Demo: qPCR & ddPCR Part 2 | |
| 3:15-3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:30-5:30 PM | BioRad Demo: qPCR & ddPCR Part3 | |
| 5:30-6:30 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00-8:00 PM | Presentation: Data analysis and interpretation of qPCR results, with a case study. | |
| Wednesday May 15 | 7:30-8:30 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:00-10:30 AM | Presentation: Overview of metabarcoding + metabarcoding step-by-step library preparation (Part 1) | |
| 10:30-10:45 AM | Break | |
| 10:45-noon | Lab practicum: Library preparation (Part 1) | |
| noon-1 PM | Lunch | |
| 1-2:15 PM | Presentation : Metabarcoding step-by-step library preparation (Part 2) | |
| 2:15-2:30 PM | Break | |
| 2:30-5:00 PM | Lab practicum: Library preparation & gel purification (Part 2) | |
| 5:30-6:30 PM | Dinner | |
| 7:00-8:00 PM | QUBS weekly seminar. Dr. Bob Hanner. | |
| Thursday May 16 | 7:30-8:30 AM | Breakfast |
| 8:30 - 9:30 AM | Presentation: Introduction to eDNA metabarcoding bioinformatics | |
| 9:30-10:00 AM | Break | |
| 10:00-11:00 AM | Presentation: Basic command line | |
| 11:00-noon | Practicum: Basic command line | |
| noon-1 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:00-3:00 PM | Practicum: Bioinformatics. Part 1 | |
| 3:00-3:30 PM | Break | |
| 3:30-4:30 PM | Practicum: Bioinformatics - analysis & interpretation of metabarcoding results. Part 2 | |
| 4:30-5:30 PM | Guest lecture. Dr. Cath Abbott. The twisty-turny road towards translating eDNA science into action | |
| 5:30-6:30 PM | Dinner | |
| 6:30-7:30 PM | Q & A with Dr. Abbott | |
| 7:30-8:00 PM | Quiz | |
| Friday May 17 | 7:30-8:30 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:00 AM-noon | Quiz results & debrief. Depart |