Exploring Metatranscriptomics and Long-Read Data at Stockholm University
From August 25 to October 19, 2025, Carmen Lafuente Sanz, , LongTREC Doctoral Candidate at Genoscope, had the opportunity to carry out a research secondment at Stockholm University, supervised by Kristoffer Sahlin. This secondment offered valuable growth, both in scientific expertise and personal development.
My goal? Evaluating clustering and error-correction tools for metatranscriptomic long-read data, integrating validation with short-read datasets to assess improvements in splice-site accuracy for marine eukaryotic communities.
Carmen reflects on her experience:
What I Learned 🎓
Through this work, I learned about the variety of available clustering and error-correction methods, the main challenges involved, and how to perform these processes accurately.
Takeaways 🌱
One of the main challenges we faced was that the tool we initially intended to test did not correctly correct the reads. This unexpected outcome allowed us to critically assess its performance and limitations, providing valuable insights for future work.
Impact 🌟
This experience has had a lasting impact by helping me understand the limitations and challenges of current methods, preparing me to evaluate computational tools more critically in my future research.
Beyond the science, joining a research group composed of mathematicians with very different expertise from my own offered a unique perspective on alternative approaches and problem-solving strategies. Additionally, experiencing Scandinavian culture and collaborating in a different academic environment was extremely rewarding on a personal level.
Overall, this secondment was a period of scientific growth, professional development, and personal enrichment, broadening both my research skills and my perspective on international collaboration.
