The OpenLiving Laboratory

Since 2023, the OpenLiving Lab has been supporting the Wellcome Sanger Institute on the BIOSCAN project, which aims to explore the genetic diversity of one million flying insects across the UK. We sample from two areas on site using a malaise trap and prepare specimens that are sent to Sanger for sequencing using DNA barcoding, which is a technique that identifies species by reading a unique stretch of their DNA. We also carry out some in-house identification, which helps to complement the sequencing work.

You can see the species we have found by looking at our Report Card on the BIOSCAN website and searching "Open University" on the "Partner" filter. You can then filter these data further by Order, Family, Genus or Species.