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，生物信息学技术人员的前景也是光明的。然而，进入新兴、多学科、生物科学行业的学生在生物信息学技能方面存在着显著的差距。在NSF CyVerse生物研究网络基础设施的初步资助下，DNA Subway于2010年开发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。这个项目将更新DNA Subway 2.0，使其成为一种更灵活、更容易获得、更有能力的资源，为学生为现代生物科学工作做好准备。通过采用“移动优先”的方式，预计这将是唯一一套能够在智能手机上流畅运行的高级生物信息学工具。将纳米孔测序和数据科学的新工具集成在一起，将为随时随地进行DNA序列分析提供一个协调的包-将社区大学生置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。一个由生物信息学行业专家和来自不同两年制机构的教师组成的顾问委员会将确保DNA Subway 2.0为劳动力做好准备。重新开发的资源将依赖于NSF的JetStream2云计算基础设施，系统专业知识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。一个导师网络将在专业会议和夏季研讨会上传播DNA Subway 2.0--其中至少一半将在为少数群体服务的机构进行。让DNA Subway 2.0响应生物科学工作者的需求，将为广大社区大学生带来参与真实科学研究、增加科学保留率和按时毕业的好处。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注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优势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.