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.
