Enhancing DNA Subway 2.0 as a Shared Resource for Bioscience Workforce Development

数据科学是美国增长最快的十大职业之一，生物信息技术人员的前景也很光明。然而，在进入新兴的，多学科的，生物科学行业的学生的生物信息学技能有一个显着的差距。在NSF CyVerse生物学研究网络基础设施的初步资助下，DNA Subway于2010年开发，作为一套以学习者为中心的在线工具，向学生介绍生物信息学和大数据分析。该项目将更新DNA地铁2.0作为一个更灵活，更方便，更有能力的资源，为学生准备现代生物科学劳动力。通过采用“移动优先”的方法，预计这将是唯一一套在智能手机上顺利运行的高级生物信息学工具。整合纳米孔测序和数据科学的新工具将为随时随地的DNA序列分析提供一个协调的软件包，使社区大学的学生处于生物科学大数据革命的前沿。该项目将由冷泉港实验室的DNA学习中心领导，该中心是InnovATEBIO国家生物技术教育中心的指定基因组学中心。一个由来自不同两年制机构的生物信息学行业专家和教师组成的咨询委员会将确保DNA Subway 2.0的工作人员做好准备。 重新开发的资源将依赖于NSF的Jetstream2云计算基础设施，由德克萨斯州高级计算中心和NSF的科学网关社区研究所提供系统专业知识。一个导师网络将在专业会议和夏季研讨会上传播DNA地铁2.0，其中至少有一半将在少数民族服务机构进行。使DNA地铁2.0响应生物科学劳动力的需求将带来参与真正的科学研究，增加保留在科学和按时毕业的社区大学生的广大观众的好处。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Data science is one of the ten fastest growing careers in the US, and the outlook is also bright for bioinformatics technicians. However, there is a significant gap in the bioinformatics skills of students entering emerging, multidisciplinary, bioscience industries. With initial funding from the NSF CyVerse cyber-infrastructure for biology research, DNA Subway was developed in 2010 as a learner-centered set of online tools to introduce students to bioinformatics and big data analysis. This project will update DNA Subway 2.0 as a more flexible, accessible, and capable resource to prepare students for the modern bioscience workforce. By adopting a “mobile-first” approach, it is expected that this will be the only set of high-level bioinformatics tools to run smoothly on a smartphone. Integrating new tools for Nanopore sequencing and data science will provide a coordinated package for anywhere/anytime DNA sequence analysis—putting community college students at the cutting edge of the bioscience big data revolution.The project will be led by the DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which is the designated Genomics Hub of the InnovATEBIO National Biotechnology Education Center. An advisory board of bioinformatics industry experts and faculty from diverse two-year institutions will ensure that DNA Subway 2.0 is workforce ready. The redeveloped resource will rely on NSF’s Jetstream2 cloud computing infrastructure, with systems expertise provided by the Texas Advanced Computing Center and NSF’s Science Gateways Community Institute. A mentor network will disseminate DNA Subway 2.0 at professional meetings and summer workshops—at least half of which will be conducted at minority-serving institutions. Making DNA Subway 2.0 responsive to bioscience workforce needs will bring the benefits of participating in authentic scientific research, increased retention in science and on-time graduation to a broad audience of community college students. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.