Bioinformatics "Train the Trainer" (T3): The Integration of Bioinformatics into an Undergraduate Biology Curriculum

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Project Summary-Abstract The application of high-throughput technologies in biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research has become widespread and requires specialized skills to effectively design experiments, analyze large datasets and integrate new data with existing large datasets to solve complex problems in these fields. Students in STEM majors will need to acquire these skills in order to be effective in the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research workplace. Our proposed Bioinformatics “Train the Trainer” (T3) Project will promote and support training in bioinformatics skills for college and university undergraduate science instructors so that they can effectively integrate bioinformatics into their science curricula and help their students be prepared for the 21st century workplace. The project has three innovative components. The first component is a 7-day short course for undergraduate instructors with hands-on activities for instilling competence and confidence in bioinformatics. The course will have both wet-bench laboratory and bioinformatics experiences, the combination of which, we believe, is key to fully understanding the biology underlying genome structures and the relationship between those structures and evolution, inheritance, disease, and human health. The second is a dedicated website with links to resources, bioinformatics tools, project archives, case studies, and a forum for building a Community of Bioinformatics Trainers so course participants can share post-course experiences, exchange ideas, and provide peer-to-peer mentoring. The third component of the project is a rigorous evaluation plan that will provide project leaders with feedback on the course, identify challenges and successes with bioinformatics integration into undergraduate curriculum, and determine the effectiveness of the project in terms of STEM retention and STEM career aspirations for undergraduates.