On March 1–15, a researcher Dr. Arman Shamshitov from the Laboratory of Microbiology at the Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC), conducted a scientific visit to the Genexpress Laboratory at the University of Florence (Italy), a strategic partner of the LAMMC Laboratory of Microbiology. The visit was carried out within the project “Preparation for the MSCA postdoctoral fellowship – development of synthetic microbial communities” (SynCom) and focused on strengthening collaboration in microbiome research.
During the visit, a shotgun metagenomics data analysis workflow was developed and tested. The work included key steps of metagenomic data processing such as sequence quality control, host genome removal, read filtering, metagenome assembly, and functional annotation. These approaches support more accurate characterization of microbial communities and their functional potential.
The visit also enabled exchange of methodological expertise and discussions on applying shotgun metagenomics in research on synthetic microbial communities (SynCom), soil, and plant–microbe interactions. The collaboration strengthens international research links and advances microbiome analysis methods within LAMMC.
The visit was funded by the EU Structural Funds Investment Programme 2021–2027 under the Recovery and Resilience Facility project “NextGeneration Lithuania” (No. 10-038-T-0304).
Photo ©Arman Shamshitov
