The DNA barcoding community is getting a much-needed playbook, written by the people in the trenches. The OPENBAR initiative, fostered under the BGE+ project, has announced a dual initiative - an interactive global forum and a comprehensive community survey - aimed at capturing the real-world practices, bottlenecks, and practical insights of DNA barcoding.

While DNA barcoding has transformed biodiversity research, researchers often face a steep learning curve without a standardised manual. 

To bridge this gap, two targeted efforts are opening up for broad participation:

1. The OPENBAR Interactive Forum

• Date and time: September 15, 14:00-16:00 CET

• Format: A fully interactive, two-hour collaborative session designed with no lectures or passive spectators.

• Objective: Co-create The DNA Barcoding Field Guide, capturing essential principles, proven workflows, and common pitfalls.

• Target audience: Anyone actively involved in DNA barcoding who wants to share what works, what fails, and what newcomers need to know.

• Registration: Join the Forum Session

2. The BGE+ Community Survey

• Focus: Ground-truth data on lab reality—covering funding, staffing, wet-lab protocols, equipment, and automation.

• Tech coverage: Insights on platforms including Oxford Nanopore, Illumina, PacBio, and associated bioinformatics pipelines.

• Key goal: Identifying operational pain points to pinpoint what tools, infrastructure, and support the community truly needs.

• Target audience: Bench scientists, technicians, and computational researchers actually doing the work-not just principal investigators.

• Participation: Complete the BGE+ Survey

By pairing live open dialogue with detailed survey data, the organisers aim to produce an open-access field guide rooted in daily lab realities rather than theoretical ideals. Researchers across all career stages are encouraged to register for the forum and submit survey responses. Do it today!

Read more on OPENBAR here: https://biodiversitygenomics.eu/say-hi-to-openbar/ 

For more information about OPENBAR and general inquiries, please contact Emily Hartop: emily.hartop@ntnu.no