New Bioinformatics Training for Librarians from the NLM Begins January 29th

Posted by Tony Nguyen on January 8th, 2018 Posted in: Continuing Education

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The NNLM Training Office is excited to announce a new learning opportunity for bioinformatics and biology training. Bioinformatics and Biology Essentials For Librarians: Databases, Tools, and Clinical Applications is a 16-week, self-paced course worth 25 hours of continuing education credit from the Medical Library Association. The course will run January 29 – May 18, 2018.

An introductory, online bioinformatics course for librarians conducted in the Moodle learning management system, this course is designed for librarians who offer, or intend to offer, bioinformatics services; as well as for librarians who use bioinformatics information on a periodic or irregular basis to serve their patrons. Modules offer in-depth exploration of several NCBI databases, including Gene, Nucleotide, Protein, Structure, ClinVar, MedGen, and Gene Testing Registry, as well as guided instructions on using BLAST to identify genetic sequences. Course content is provided in the form of videos, hands-on exercises, readings, discussion posts, and open book quizzes. The course concludes with synthesis activities built upon actual reference questions received at the NCBI Help Desk, and the creation of a personal bioinformatics action plan.

Subject Matter Experts for this course include Dr. Peter Cooper, PhD and Dr. Bonnie Maidak, PhD, MLS, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine; and Dr. Emir Khatipov, Ph.D., National Library of Medicine.

Topics and suggested pace is listed below. Modules open progressively based on completion of the previous module.

• Week 1 & 2 (Jan 29-Feb 9): Genetics Basics: orientation to molecular biology concepts
• Week 3 (Feb 12-16): Introduction – What is bioinformatics and what does it have to do with librarianship?
• Week 4 (Feb 19-23): Molecular Biology Techniques
• Week 5 (Feb 26-Mar 2): NCBI Nucleotide Database
• Week 6 (Mar 5-9): BLAST Sequence Similarity
• Week 7 (Mar 12-16): NCBI Gene Database
• Week 8 (Mar 19-23): Basics of Proteins
• Week 9 (Mar 26-30): Catch up week
• Week 10 (April 2-6): NCBI Protein and Structure Databases
• Week 11 (April 9-13): Clinical Applications
• Week 12 (April 16-20): Ethics and Policy in Bioinformatics
• Week 13 (April 23-27): What’s Next in Genomic Research
• Week 14-15 (April 30-May 11): Synthesis Activities
• Week 16 (May 14-18): Additional catch up week (if needed)

To register, go to: https://nnlm.gov/class/bioinformatics-biology-essentials-Jan-2018

Note: Registration closes January 24, 2018.  This course is limited to 25 participants. A 10-seat waitlist is also available. Registration preference given to residents of the United States.

For more information, contact Molly Knapp, Training Development Specialist, NNLM Training Office