Bioinformatics course kicks off in Qld

Australia's most ambitious attempt at bringing computer scientists and bioscientists together for bioinformatics training was launched this week in Queensland.

An intensive 10-day Bioinformatics Enabler Course hosted at James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville is being attended by about 30 scientists, many from CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The training involves a series of short courses for researchers in bioscience and IT starting with introductory sessions on computer operating systems and hardware platforms plus a primer on bioinformatics.

It will then branch into two separate streams. One will deal with microarray-oriented bioinformatics, particularly biostatistics tools. The other will focus on tools for visualising and manipulating molecular models.

JCU's Head of School of Information Technology, Prof Bill Lavery, said the course would introduce participants to the technical aspects of bioinformatics software, and help demystify the software development process.

Sydney bioinformatics training specialist BioLateral is partnering JCU in the exercise, which is funded by the Queensland Government.

The seven-member teaching faculty supplied by BioLateral includes bioinformatics specialists drawn from the Centre for Bioinformation Science (CBiS), the University of Queensland and Sydney University.

BioLateral CEO Tim Littlejohn said the 10-day course would give the IT and bioscience participants a deeper understanding of each other's disciplines which could stimulate a stream of new projects.