Fundamentals in Bioinformatics (FunInBio): Expanding Continuing Education Opportunities for Post-Doctoral Scientists

PROJECT ABSTRACT The Fundamentals in Bioinformatics (FunInBio) program develops, deploys, and evaluates a continuing education program to address skills gaps in post-doctoral scientists. The FunInBio curriculum conveys bioinformatics skills while participants contribute to a citizens science research problem about the environmental component of antibiotic resistance. Participants will gain exposure to many facets of computational biology, including genome sequencing/analysis, comparative genomics, and training tailored to their professional needs. FunInBio is directed towards post-doctoral scientists from universities that employ scientists who would benefit from bioinformatics training. In Aim 1, we will develop a three-part curriculum covering programming background, an in-person short course on comparative genomics, and customized online modules tailored to participant needs. In Aim 2, we will deploy the FunInBio curriculum at regional educational institutions in the life sciences. In Aim 3, we will assess the effectiveness and outcomes of the FunInBio continuing education program to iteratively improve our curriculum. Integral to these courses is the program website, developed as a repository for educational material and a database that aggregates course-generated data. The primary outcome of FunInBio is the group of early-career scientists trained in bioinformatics skills. In addition, we will publish our course materials to extend the impact of our curriculum, and we will publish results quantifying the effectiveness of our approach. FunInBio will bring bioinformatics education to the growing population of post-doctoral scientists as they address a meaningful research question through citizen science.