The Discovery Series:
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What happens when we get it wrong?
Megan Beaudry, PhD | Technical Specialist - Genomics
What You’ll Learn
- Sharper data, smarter spend. myBaits focuses reads on targets—less bias than amplicon. "Don't buy every book in the bookstore when you only need one quote."
- Find the rare. Enrich low-abundance taxa and resistance genes (16S + resistome) for truer community profiles.
- Evolves with you. Custom baits, short/long-read ready—update targets as questions change.
Resources
Beaudry, Megan. Microbiome, Resistome, and Whole Genome: Capturing Sequences to Improve Public Health. University of Georgia. 2022. https://www.proquest.com/openview/54985ea6e734c22cf1bbecf860e975dd/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Beaudry, Megan. From Nuisance to Resource: Understanding Microbial Sources of Contamination in Urban Stormwater-Impacted Bodies of Water Intended for Water Reuse Activities. University of Alberta. 2019. https://ualberta.scholaris.ca/items/f17a0354-b0f0-43fa-9e8e-0adbe9e4f575
Interested in learning more? Talk to one of our scientists
myBaits for Agriculture - Coffee phylogenetics and species delineation with Angiosperms-353
Alison Devault Enk, PhD | Director of Product Management
What You’ll Learn
- Redraw species boundaries with confidence. High-resolution genomics with Angiosperms-353 reveals three distinct Liberica species—unlocking clearer taxonomy for breeding and conservation.
- Power from even the oldest samples. Recover robust genomic data from wild, degraded, and >100-year-old herbarium specimens to resolve complex evolutionary relationships.
- Build climate-smart crops. Newly defined species and locally adapted populations provide fresh pathways to strengthen coffee resilience in a warming world.
Resources
Davis et al. (2025), Nature Plants. Genomics data define species delimitation in Liberica coffee with implications for crop development and conservation. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02073-y
How modern forensic technologies identified the remains from the Warship Vasa
Brian Brunelle, PhD | Senior Product Manager - myBaits and myTags
What You’ll Learn
- Make the impossible analyzable. Using the myBaits FORCE kit, researchers enriched ~5,400 forensically relevant human markers from nearly 400-year-old skeletal remains—highly degraded and heavily contaminated with bacterial and fungal DNA.
- Turn fragments into identities. Hybridization capture enabled reconstruction of genetic traits including ancestry, sex, eye/hair color, freckles, and more—providing key inputs for accurate facial reconstructions of Vasa crew members.
- Integrate multidisciplinary evidence. See how DNA data combined with osteology, isotopes, and archaeology resolved individual histories—such as correcting the sex of “Gustav,” now identified as Gertrud—and restored identities lost for centuries.
- Advance historical forensics. Learn how myBaits strengthens complex casework involving ancient, degraded, or contaminated samples, enabling new insights into kinship, phenotype, and human history.
Resources
Allen, Marie. (2025) ISHI News. A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Investigate Individuals on the Warship Vasa. https://www.ishinews.com/events/a-multi-disciplinary-approach-to-investigate-individuals-on-the-warship-vasa/
Museer, S. maritima och transporthistoriska. (2023). DNA analysis reveals what the people on the warship vasa from 1628 looked like. Vasamuseet. https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/about-the-vasa-museum/pressrum/dna-analysis-reveals-what-the-people-on-the-warship-vasa-from-1628-looked-like
Museer, S. maritima och transporthistoriska. (2025). In life and death. Vasa Museet. https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/visit/exhibitions/in-life-and-death
Olsen, J. (2023). DNA: Woman was on famed 17th century Swedish warship. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/sweden-vasa-warship-woman-8e5d15c5acf623e0115368be61084152
Tumin, R. (2023). A Swedish warship sank in 1628: it’s still yielding secrets. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/world/europe/sweden-vasa-warship-woman.html
