SBIR Phase I: Use of a Visual Programming Environment to Promote Bioinformatics Education

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目标是在生物信息学教育的可视化编程环境的需要。 一个生物信息学可视化编程工具从来没有实现课堂使用，并可能彻底改变生物信息学培训在本科生和研究生水平。 这项工作将与科学和教育学院合作并在其指导下进行，将利用现有的可视化集成生物信息学环境（VIBE）软件。 目前，具有必要技能的训练有素的人员严重短缺，无法从生命科学研究实验产生的数据中提取知识并从中获益。 生物信息学家的短缺在很大程度上是由于大学缺乏正式的生物信息学培训计划。 目前缺乏正式的生物信息学培训、培训工具和合格的生物信息学家，这在发现过程中造成了一个重大瓶颈，因为它削弱了充分利用制药和农业研究公司以及政府和学术实验室产生的大量数据的能力。该软件将立即解决生物信息学教育工具的现有短缺问题，因此，还将解决缺乏合格生物信息学家的下游问题。 该项目提供了一种高效而优雅的方法，为这些重要问题提供了部分解决方案。 该软件的主要客户是生物信息学教授和学生，以及提供生物信息学学位的整个部门和大学。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project targets the need for a visual programming environment in bioinformatics education. A bioinformatics visual programming tool has never been implemented for classroom use and could potentially revolutionize bioinformatics training at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The work, which will be performed in collaboration with, and under guidance of, science and education faculty, will leverage the existing Visual Integrated Bioinformatics Environment (VIBE) software. Currently, there exists a significant shortage of trained personnel with the necessary skill set to extract knowledge and derive benefits from data generated in life science research experiments. The shortage of bioinformaticists is due in a large part to a lack of formal bioinformatics training programs at universities. The current lack of formal bioinformatics training, training tools, and qualified bioinformaticists creates a significant bottleneck in the discovery process because it impairs the ability to fully exploit the vast amounts of data produced at pharmaceutical and agricultural research companies as well as government and academic laboratories.The software will immediately address the existing shortage of bioinformatics education tools and, as a result, will also address the downstream problem of the dearth of qualified bioinformaticists. This project offers an efficient and elegant approach to provide a partial solution to these significant problems. The primary customers for the software are individual bioinformatics professors and students, as well as entire departments and universities that offer a bioinformatics degree..