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NIBLSE RRC Newsletter

October 2021

Consistent with the NIBLSE mission to promote the "preparation of faculty trained in life sciences to deliver curriculum in bioinformatics", we share the following announcement from our colleagues in the HITS network.

Become a HITS Case Fellow!

The HITS network has the goal of training researchers and educators in data analysis and current trends in high-throughput (HT) experimentation and support the design and implementation of inquiry-based case studies using authentic HT data. Faculty and postdoctoral fellows devoted to the use of case studies and problem-based learning pedagogies can apply to become HITS Case Fellows.

The HITS network will train Case Fellows in the use of case studies based on HT data by using a yearly workshop. The HITS workshop will provide training to Case Fellows so that they can work in groups to create case studies based on HT approaches, authentic 'big' data sets, and analysis tools, and integrate them into their classrooms. Fellows will assess their new HT teaching tools across diverse educational settings and institutions, working with other Case Fellows and HT researchers both during the workshop and online using the QUBES hub

Case Fellows will receive a yearly stipend and support to attend two workshops. Our HITS 2022 workshop will be held, tentatively, May 23-25, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. 

HITS 2022: Save the date! May 23-25, 2022 @ UNC Chapel Hill

For more information, download our flyer.

Faculty and postdoctoral fellows: apply here to become a HITS Case Fellow. 

You may download a copy of the survey here (opens in a new window) to review the questions.

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NIBLSE RRC Newsletter

September 2021

REMINDER: Sept. 1 deadline to apply for NIBLSE-sponsored Faculty Mentoring Network on RNA-seq

NIBLSE is again partnering with QUBES to offer our third Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN). The Fall 2021 FMN will support faculty members seeking to integrate and adapt an RNA-seq analysis module in one or more of their courses. The featured resource is the updated “RNA-seq data analysis using Galaxy” resource that was refined in a NIBLSE Incubator and subsequently published in CourseSource. If you’re interested in teaching students how to perform RNA-seq computational analysis using the powerful, yet accessible, Galaxy web platform, apply before September 1. The competitive application process is open to all instructors, but spaces are limited.

And yet more FMNs!

QUBES is also hosting two more Faculty Mentoring Networks in Fall 2021 that may be of interest to NIBLSE members:

CourseSource Online4Bio: Writing FMN for online lesson manuscripts

Applications Due: September 1, 2021

Participants in this FMN will focus on publishing undergraduate life science lessons in teaching environments with online components (e.g., fully synchronous or asynchronous online courses, hybrid courses). Accepted applicants will write a lesson article manuscript, section by section, to prepare for submission to CourseSource. Topics may vary from a wide range of life science and educational disciplines (see current "Courses" available in CourseSource). As a part of the Fall 2021 CourseSource Online4Bio Writing FMN, members will participate in biweekly virtual sessions to collaborate with and support others in the network and receive mentoring.

Breathing Life (Science) into Your Math Courses

Applications Due: September 10th, 2021

The QB@CC is joining forces with BioQUEST/QUBES to work with faculty who are interested in adapting and implementing selected modules from a wide range of topics in mathematics and biology. Participating educators are encouraged to mix and match parts of modules and customize them for use in their classrooms.

Bioinformatics-related Job Opportunities

The University of San Diego (USD) Department of Biology, as part of  USD’s Horizon Project <https://www.sandiego.edu/horizon-project/>  and  a multi-year hiring plan related to thematic and mentoring clusters, invites applications for two tenure track faculty positions beginning in September 2022.  The department seeks applicants with experience in quantitative biology, broadly defined and/or inclusive pedagogy. Candidates should be prepared to teach some combination of the following courses: Biostatistics, Genetics, Microbiology, majors and non-majors introductory biology, and additional courses according to their area of interest.  The base teaching load is 3 courses (lecture or labs) per semester.

A research experience for all students is a central feature of USD’s Biology Curriculum. Integral to that aim, the successful candidate will have a robust research program that incorporates undergraduates. Candidates will participate in campus and community collaborations with interdisciplinary, pedagogical, or community engagement approaches related to one of these three broadly-defined thematic clusters*: *Climate Change & Environmental Justice, Technology & the Human Experience, Borders & Social Justice.  For further details, please click here. <https://www.sandiego.edu/cas/about/diversity-equity-inclusion/hiring.php>

Visit the USD jobs posting <https://jobs.sandiego.edu/cw/en-us/job/494595/assistant-professor-biology> to complete our online application.

Applications must be submitted by September 24, 2021 for consideration. For questions regarding the position, please contact: Sue Lowery, Professor and Chair of Biology, slowery@sandiego.edu. 619-260-4078

The Resource Review Committee

  • Bill Morgan, chair
  • Carlos Goller
  • Anya Goodman
  • Sabrina Robertson
  • Srebrenka Robic
  • Liz Ryder
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NIBLSE RRC Newsletter

August 2021

Dear NIBLSE members,

Some of us may be in denial, but it’s that time of year again when course preparations for the fall semester begin in earnest! Are you – or a colleague – still searching for learning activities for your fall courses? Looking for a community to support your efforts to integrate bioinformatics into your class? Or would you like to contribute to efforts to increase and publicize the NIBLSE collection of bioinformatics learning resources? If so, read on!

Looking to integrate bioinformatics into a genetics course?

The NIBLSE Learning Resource Collection now offers dozens of resources to promote integration of bioinformatics education into life science courses, but sometimes it can be difficult to find the resource that’s just right for your class. That’s why the Resource Review Committee has begun to develop lists of suggested learning resources for specific courses. Our first list – available here – is featuring resources in the NIBLSE collection that are recommended for sophomore-level genetics courses. The list is still in development, so if you have a genetics-related bioinformatics resource that you would recommend, please send an email to the RRC chair at wmorgan@wooster.edu.

NIBLSE to host Fall 2021 Faculty Mentoring Network on RNA-seq

NIBLSE is again partnering with QUBES to offer our third Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN). The Fall 2021 FMN will support faculty members seeking to integrate and adapt an RNA-seq analysis module in one or more of their courses. The featured resource is the updated “RNA-seq data analysis using Galaxy” resource that was refined in a NIBLSE Incubator and subsequently published in CourseSource. If you’re interested in teaching students how to perform RNA-seq computational analysis using the powerful, yet accessible, Galaxy web platform, apply here before September 1. The competitive application process is open to all instructors, but spaces are limited.

More “Sequence Similarity” adaptations available 

Adaptations of NIBLSE’s most popular learning resource, on “Sequence Similarity,” are available here under the Adaptations tab in the NIBLSE Learning Resource Collection. Refined in a NIBLSE Incubator and further adapted through two NIBLSE /  QUBES Faculty Mentoring Networks, the “Sequence Similarity” resource introduces students to essential bioinformatics tools, takes them “under the hood” to examine the underlying algorithms, and includes an optional final project. The adaptations are wide-ranging in content and include an introduction to computational tools such as Bioconductor and MEGA, with content areas such as plant biology and virology. The modular format of this resource and its multiple adaptations allow it to be used in whole or in part in a wide variety of life science classes.

NIBLSE Incubators Foster Publication of Learning Resources

As we mentioned in a previous newsletter, NIBLSE incubators have demonstrated consistent success in fostering a collaborative community for the refinement of bioinformatics learning resources. Much of this success is due to the relatively small time demanded of each incubator participant, typically a couple hours per week for about six weeks. If you have developed a bioinformatics resource for use in a life science classroom that you wish to refine for broader dissemination and peer-reviewed publication – or if you are willing to help others with this refinement as a “novice” or “expert” user, please volunteer to participate in a NIBLSE Incubator by completing our brief survey here. 

The Resource Review Committee

Bill Morgan, chair

Carlos Goller

Anya Goodman

Sabrina Robertson

Srebrenka Robic

Liz Ryder

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Hi everyone 

We're conducting a new survey of genomics concepts (related but a little different from our core bioinformatics competencies).   This is the work of a group of people from the Genomics Education Alliance.  If you teach genomics, we would appreciate your feedback.  Please go to the survey here.  Thanks for your help! Questions or comments - send to anne.rosenwald@georgetown.edu.  

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The NIBLSE Learning Resource Collection and YOU! Books on shelves

August 2020

Dear NIBLSE members,

Are you – or a colleague – still searching for online activities for your fall courses? Or would you like to contribute to our efforts to increase and publicize our growing collection of bioinformatics learning activities? The NIBSLE Resource Review Committee invites you to check out the NIBLSE Learning Resource Collection. Organized around the NIBLSE Core Competencies, the collection currently has about two dozen learning resources for integrating bioinformatics instruction into undergraduate life science courses – many of which can be taught online! 

How the NIBLSE Collection can support YOU

Not familiar with the Collection? Or wish to recommend it to a fellow instructor? A good place to start is with one of the most popular and frequently adapted resources, “Sequence Similarity: An inquiry based and "under the hood" approach for incorporating molecular sequence alignment in introductory undergraduate biology courses” (Kleinschmit et al., 2019; doi:10.25334/Q4G45Z). Refined in a NIBLSE Incubator and further adapted in a QUBES Faculty Mentoring Network, this resource “integrates an introduction to web-based sequence alignment algorithms with models to facilitate student reflection and appreciation for how computational tools provide similarity output data.” The modular format of this resource and its multiple adaptations allow it to be used in whole or in part in a wide variety of life science classes.

Interested in how this and other resources in the NIBLSE Collection could be used in your introductory biology course? Recently, the Resource Review Committee has been identifying links between NIBLSE resources and OpenStax Biology 2e, a representative, open-source introductory biology textbook. As a starting point, RRC members have begun annotating the Biology 2e Table of Contents to highlight how NIBLSE learning resources can be used in an introductory biology setting. As this initiative moves forward, we encourage you to peruse this annotated contents page and give us your feedback. 

How YOU can support the NIBLSE Collection

The NIBLSE collection is the product of ongoing efforts by RRC and other NIBSLE members to curate and develop bioinformatics educational resources for life science classes. You can support these efforts by recommending a resource for inclusion, providing feedback on your use of a resource, or joining an Incubator or the RRC. Please read below and complete our brief survey here to indicate how you can help strengthen the Collection.

1. Help us further link the Resource Collection to the OpenStax Biology 2e textbook

RRC members have linked and annotated a handful of resources in the collection to OpenStax Biology 2e to serve as examples, but this work isn’t complete. We’re asking each NIBSLE member to contribute an annotation or tell us how you have used a NIBLSE learning resource. Interested? Please complete our brief survey here.

2. Participate in a NIBLSE Incubator to refine a learning resource

As detailed in our recent Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education article (available here), NIBLSE incubators have demonstrated consistent success in fostering a collaborative community for the refinement of bioinformatics learning resources. Much of this success is due to the relatively small time demanded of each incubator participant, typically a couple hours per week for about six weeks. If you have developed a bioinformatics resource for use in a life science classroom that you wish to refine and disseminate – or if you are willing to help others with this refinement, as a “novice” or “expert” user, please volunteer to participate in a NIBLSE Incubator by completing our brief survey here.

3. Join the Resource Review Committee!

Want to have an even larger impact on the development and dissemination of NIBLSE learning resources? The Resource Review Committee (RRC) is looking to add new committee members. Committee members meet online monthly, help manage NIBLSE Incubators, and make additional contributions to the development and promotion of the NIBLSE learning resource collection. If you want to learn more about the committee’s efforts, please email the RRC chair, Bill Morgan (wmorgan@wooster.edu). If you’re ready to volunteer as a RRC member, please complete our brief survey here.

Thanks for considering each of these valuable opportunities to assist in promoting the NIBLSE mission to integrate bioinformatics into life sciences education – and please share this information with interested colleagues!

The Resource Review Committee

Bill Morgan, chair

Sam Donovan

Sabrina Robertson

Liz Ryder

Bill Tapprich, NIBLSE PI

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Greetings NIBLSE Colleagues,

Building on this month’s successful NIBLSE conference, the NIBLSE Resource Review Committee seeks your input on the NIBLSE Learning Resource Collection and possible topics for future NIBLSE Faculty Mentoring Networks.

To protect your valuable time, we have developed a short survey that should only take about two minutes to complete. You can access the survey form here.

Your responses will be greatly appreciated, particularly if submitted by Friday, Nov. 1.

Many thanks,

Bill Morgan on behalf of the NIBLSE Resource Review Committee

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Greetings NIBLSE Colleagues,

Many of you have already registered for the 3rd NIBLSE conference, “Integration of Bioinformatics into Life Science Education: Roadmap for the Future”, but there is still room for more.  The conference will be held October 9-11, 2019 in Omaha, NE.  Information and links, including a link to the conference registration page, can be found on the NIBLSE website.  Currently, there are 40 people registered for the conference.  We still have room (and travel funding) for about 15 additional participants.  We also have plenty of openings left in the poster session.  Please help us make this a productive and exciting conference by:

  1. Registering for the conference.
  2. Making your travel arrangements (instructions are sent to each person who registers).
  3. Submitting an abstract for the poster session if you wish to present.

The deadline for making travel arrangements using NIBLSE funding is September 18 so do not delay.

We are looking forward to a productive meeting with ample opportunity to connect with colleagues.  Hope to see you in Omaha.

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Greetings NIBLSE Colleagues,

We are rapidly approaching the start of the 3rd NIBLSE conference, “Integration of Bioinformatics into Life Science Education: Roadmap for the Future”.  The conference will be held October 9-11, 2019 in Omaha, NE.  Information and links, including a link to the conference registration page, can be found on the NIBLSE website.  Currently, there are 38 people registered for the conference.  We still have room (and travel funding) for about 15 additional participants.  We also have plenty of openings left in the poster session.  Please help us get this conference off to a good start by:

  1. Registering for the conference.
  2. Making your travel arrangements (instructions are sent to all who are registered).
  3. Submitting an abstract for the poster session if you wish to present.

The deadline for making travel arrangements using NIBLSE funding is September 16 so do not delay.

We are looking forward to a productive meeting with ample opportunity to connect with colleagues.  Hope to see you in Omaha.

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