Abstract
Background: Bioinformatics is becoming an essential tool for the majority of biological and biomedical researchers. Although bioinformatics data is exploited by academic and industrial researchers, limited focus is on teaching this area to undergraduates, postgraduates and senior scientists. Many scientists are developing their own expertise without formal training and often without appreciating the source of the data they are reliant upon. Some universities do provide courses on a variety of bioinformatics resources and tools, a few also provide biocuration projects, during which students submit data to annotation resources. Methods: To assess the usefulness and enjoyability of annotation projects a survey was sent to University College London (UCL) students who have undertaken Gene Ontology biocuration projects. Results: Analysis of survey responses suggest that these projects provide students with an opportunity not only to learn about bioinformatics resources but also to improve their literature analysis, presentation and writing skills. Conclusion: Biocuration student projects provide valuable annotations as well as enabling students to develop a variety of skills relevant to their future careers. It is also hoped that, as future scientists, these students will critically assess their own manuscripts and ensure that these are written with the biocurators of the future in mind.
Highlights
Bioinformatics is utilised in a wide range of scientific disciplines, including data science and statistics as well as the biological sciences.[1]
Cohort summary The survey was emailed to 22 past and present students who had undertaken Gene Ontology (GO) biocuration projects with the Functional Gene Annotation group at University College London (UCL), with an 82% response rate and a 73% completion rate (Underlying data: Table S1B46)
The 18 respondents had a wide variety of current roles, including medical writer, clinical geneticist and post-doctoral fellow (Table S2). This provided an insight into how useful and relevant a GO biocuration project could be to areas of science that are not directly focused on bioinformatics or annotation, with one respondent stating: “I think bioinformatics is an essential skill to have and it can really help you with other areas too”
Summary
Bioinformatics is utilised in a wide range of scientific disciplines, including data science and statistics as well as the biological sciences.[1]. Biocuration as a teaching tool Biocuration is the process of capturing biological knowledge in a database, usually through the creation of annotations. This process involves an in-depth review of the published literature and using standardised terms and identifiers, condensing the information into a computer-readable format. This process has many similarities to a literature review project that many students undertake during their undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Some universities do provide courses on a variety of bioinformatics resources and tools, a few provide biocuration projects, during which students submit data to annotation resources. It is hoped that, as future scientists, these students will critically assess their own manuscripts and ensure that these are written with the biocurators of the future in mind
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