At the Second Congress of Molecular Biologists of Serbia, which was held from October 6 to 8, 2023, the FerroReg project team conducted a workshop entitled “Targeted RNA sequencing using the Illumina platform and analysis of upstream regulators”. The workshop consisted of a theoretical and practical part. During the theoretical part of the workshop, the participants of the course were introduced to the new generation sequencing technology (NGS), which is based on massive parallel sequencing. Also, the principles and methodology of panel generation for determining the expression of candidate genes by targeted RNA sequencing was presented. Special emphasis was placed on quality control and data analysis during primary, secondary and tertiary processing. At the end, the concept and goal of identifying upstream regulators and their importance in the interpretation of the obtained profiles of differentially expressed genes were clarified.
In the second part of the workshop, through practical work on the computer, the course participants went through all the steps of the explained analysis following simple “step-by-step” instructions. After the finished workshop, a discussion followed during which members of the FerroReg team answered the questions posed by the course participants. An anonymous survey concluded that the course was very successful and that the participants were satisfied with both, the lecturers and the newly acquired knowledge.
