Biological systems are interconnected and interdependent to each other and to a variety of biotic and abiotic factors. Research projects at various scales and complexities investigate such systems also by addressing the following questions:
• Who is there (biodiversity)?
• What are they doing (function)?
• How do they respond to changing conditions (dynamics)?
These questions can be addressed by a variety of analysis methods mainly on the genome and the transcriptome level. Fragment analysis, microarray techniques, and next-generation sequencing are the most prominent analysis platforms applied in life science research and the key to success often lies in a sophisticated combination of the various platforms. This colloquium will present an overview of the analysis platforms available in our lab with special focus on scalability and analysis depth.