Accompanying the growth of Bio-Health informatics is a growing demand for
informatics training and support for both academic and industrial scientists,
especially in Continued Professional Development (CPD). Different categories of
scientists have different training requirements, for example:
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End-users, or biologists, need training in using Bioinformatics as a tool to
enhance their research.
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Master's level students, require the technical expertise to enable them to
develop the tools and technologies needed for applied Bioinformatics.
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Bioinformaticians wish to aid and evaluate Bioinformatics research/tools in the
quest for improvement.
Primarily, Bioinformatics teaching is delivered as post-graduate courses
at an ever increasing number of places in the UK. One of the first courses was
established at the University of Manchester. The content of the courses
includes an introduction to basic Bioinformatics techniques/tools (e.g.
similarity searches); programming languages (e.g. Perl and java) and
statistics/algorithms used in Bioinformatics. This course (in collaboration with
University of Leeds) is also offered through distance learning.
An alternative delivery involves interactive workshops or day-training
courses that offer formal training in a range of Bioinformatics techniques.
These are usually more suitable when there is a need for expert knowledge in
order to carry out a task, for example, the instruction of new software. In
addition, it is a productive environment for evaluating the usefulness of the
Bioinformatics software and aspects of future development. These two formats of
teaching are suited for the CPD of scientists both in the academic and
industrial sectors. CPD is a top priority in Bioinformatics.
As the North West is a hotbed of Bioinformatics research (and accompanying
Health-Informatics research), especially in the region’s universities,
scientists from all sectors can benefit from this wealth of expertise through
specialised Bioinformatics training not just though post-graduate
qualifications, but through tailor-made training, consultancy and workshops that
will contribute to the CPD of the region’s Bioinformaticians and biologists.
Also, this will help progress Bioinformatics research (e.g., software
development) through the incorporation of usability studies.
By co-ordinating Bioinformatics training and facilitating communication channels
between different research groups in both the academic and industrial sectors, a
mutually beneficial relationship can then exist to make the North West a
premier centre for Bioinformatics training.
Aims of Bioinformatics Teaching at NIBHI:
The primary aim of NIBHI training is to develop high quality Bioinformatics
education and development programmes for both graduates and scientists, guided
by the biological and clinical research in the North West and the needs of the
regional pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. The training will act as a two
way process:
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The provision of access, teaching and support in leading-edge software and
research areas developed in the North West.
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The formation of part of the research and software development process by
allowing.