ABSTRACT

While computational biology and bioinformatics became an inherent part of most life science degrees, it remains challenging to encourage students to employ these diverse skills in a practical research context. In this education paper, we present a method to enable students to acquire hands-on skills by the data-driven study of complex biomolecular datasets. The course starts with a series of introductory lectures, including a practical session on Cytoscape and associated computational network biology techniques. As we believe that enabling students to work on their own research questions will increase their motivation and interest, we introduced a recent hallmark virus-host protein-protein interaction article from which the database served as a starting point for the students to develop their research goal, which was presented and discussed in a first informal meeting. Over the next two months, about four interactive sessions were held, where students presented their problems, progress and challenges and exchanged ideas to help each other reach their goals. The role of the lecturers was to assist the students with independently collecting data and exploring new software tools for their research question. We present this concept and methods, and we share our experiences from an evaluation of the student learning outcomes.

摘要

尽管计算生物学和生物信息学已成为大多数生命科学学位的固有组成部分，但鼓励学生在实际研究环境中运用这些多样化的技能仍然具有挑战性。在这份教育论文中，我们提出了一种方法，使学生能够通过复杂生物分子数据集的数据驱动研究来掌握动手技能。该课程从一系列入门讲座开始，包括有关Cytoscape和相关计算网络生物学技术的实践会议。由于我们相信，使学生能够处理自己的研究问题会增加他们的动力和兴趣，因此我们介绍了最近的标志性病毒-宿主蛋白-蛋白相互作用文章，该数据库以此为起点为学生制定了研究目标，在第一次非正式会议上进行了介绍和讨论。在接下来的两个月中，举行了大约四场互动会议，学生们介绍了他们的问题，进展和挑战，并交换了意见，以帮助彼此实现目标。讲师的作用是协助学生独立收集数据并探索新的软件工具以解决他们的研究问题。我们介绍了这种概念和方法，并通过评估学生的学习成果来分享我们的经验。讲师的作用是协助学生独立收集数据并探索新的软件工具以解决他们的研究问题。我们介绍了这种概念和方法，并通过评估学生的学习成果来分享我们的经验。讲师的作用是协助学生独立收集数据并探索新的软件工具以解决他们的研究问题。我们介绍了这种概念和方法，并通过评估学生的学习成果来分享我们的经验。