Oxford Nanopore at ASM National Meeting 2026
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Overview
Oxford Nanopore are sponsoring, exhibiting and presenting at the Australian Society for Microbiology Annual National Meeting in Melbourne. The event brings a multidisciplinary international community of scientists, clinical researchers, industry professionals and other stakeholders working at the forefront of microbial science.
This flagship meeting features an extensive scientific program with plenaries, symposium sessions, invited keynote speakers, poster presentations, and networking opportunities designed to showcase cutting-edge research and facilitate collaboration across academia, clinical practice and industry.
Please also visit us at our booth No.18 and join the workshop to listen to our latest updates if you are able to attend the conference.
Oxford Nanopore Lunch Workshop
Tuesday, 16 June | 12:30 – 13:30
Breakout 4
Registration via the conference official site
Real-world nanopore sequencing for microbiology — from bacterial isolates to respiratory and environmental metagenomics. The workshop will highlight examples of nanopore sequencing in microbiome and respiratory metagenomics, supported by ONT’s latest workflows for bacterial isolate sequencing, 16S/ITS profiling and shotgun metagenomics
Time | Agenda | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
12:30 - 12:35 | Opening & Session intro | Oxford Nanopore team |
12:35 - 12:55 | Grazed and confused: the complex feeding habits of our gut microbes | Phil Pope, Queensland University of Technology |
12:55 - 13:15 | Evaluating ONT-only sequencing for clinical genomics in the hospital setting | Jane Hawkey, Monash University |
13:15 - 13:25 | From colony to community: Oxford Nanopore solutions for isolate sequencing and metagenomics | Steven Batinovic, Oxford Nanopore Technologies |
13:25 - 13:30 | Q&A | All |
Speakers
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Phil Pope, Queensland University of TechnologyAs a microbial ecologist and physiologist, Prof. Phil B. Pope seeks to deconvolute complex microbiomes that are integral to gut function, health and nutrition of animals. Phil has a BSc from Griffith University (Queensland, Australia) majoring in physical mathematics, with honours in environmental microbiology (2003);a PhD in metagenomics from Griffith University (2007);and postdoc experience at CSIRO with Professor Mark Morrison (2007–10). Phil moved to Europe in 2010 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Incoming fellow and started the Microbial Ecology and Meta-Omics (MEMO) group with an ERC starting grant in 2014. Phil’s European research portfolio included CI roles for a Novo Nordisk Foundation Ascending fellowship 'SuPAcow,' coordination of an ERA-Net project 'ImprovAFish' and leadership roles in two Horizon 2020 projects (HoloRuminant and 3D’omics) and a Marie Curie Doctoral Network (HoloGen) that are focused on animal–microbiome interactions. In 2024, Phil relocated to the Queensland University of Technology and is a group leader at the Centre for Microbiome Research. Phil was recently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship 'HoliCow', which aims to expand our fundamental understanding of the rumen microbiome by coupling omics technologies with high throughput cultivation.
Genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens can positively impact infectious disease management in clinical contexts, including hospital settings. We are currently investigating the use of ONT sequencing for both clinical isolate characterisation and respiratory metagenomics. For isolate characterisation, we benchmarked common analysis tasks, including multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and core genome SNP (cgSNP) typing using ONT-only sequencing. We assessed performance based on sequencing chemistry, basecaller, basecalling model, assembly status, assembly polishing and sequencing depth.
Secondly, we have piloted an integrated respiratory metagenomics protocol, which aims to deliver same-day results, using an established protocol. We analysed 32 clinical samples, with good concordance when comparing to culture-based results. While translational challenges still remain for both isolate genome characterisation and metagenomics, we demonstrate that modern ONT workflows are highly viable for accurate isolate characterisation and rapid infection diagnosis in hospital settings.
Genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens can positively impact infectious disease management in clinical contexts, including hospital settings. We are currently investigating the use of ONT sequencing for both clinical isolate characterisation and respiratory metagenomics. For isolate characterisation, we benchmarked common analysis tasks, including multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and core genome SNP (cgSNP) typing using ONT-only sequencing. We assessed performance based on sequencing chemistry, basecaller, basecalling model, assembly status, assembly polishing and sequencing depth.
Secondly, we have piloted an integrated respiratory metagenomics protocol, which aims to deliver same-day results, using an established protocol. We analysed 32 clinical samples, with good concordance when comparing to culture-based results. While translational challenges still remain for both isolate genome characterisation and metagenomics, we demonstrate that modern ONT workflows are highly viable for accurate isolate characterisation and rapid infection diagnosis in hospital settings.
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Jane Hawkey, Monash University)
Steven Batinovic, Field Applications Scientist (Australia), Oxford Nanopore TechnologiesSteven is a Field Applications Scientist at Oxford Nanopore Technologies and the microbiology subject matter expert for Australia and New Zealand. He supports laboratories in implementing nanopore sequencing technologies for rapid, high‑resolution genomic analysis. Steven has a background in microbial genomics, with five years of postdoctoral research experience prior to joining Nanopore.
