Arkansas inbre bioinformatics core

1. Arkansas inbre bioinformatics core External Advisory Committee and Steering Committee Meeting April 19, 2010

2. Bioinformatics Graduate Program • Joint program with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) • Conceived in 2002; approved October 2004, first graduates in May 2005 • Currently 24 students accepted into program • 13 on graduate assistantships (9 grant funded) • 2 working full time • 6 starting this Summer/Fall http://bioinformatics.ualr.edu/grad AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

3. Bioinformatics Graduate Program (continued) • Participating faculty • Sixty participants from two universities, four colleges • Representing more than two dozen departments • Currently considering expansion to incorporate medical informatics • Through 2009, 13 MS and 5 PhD graduates • 78% of graduates are still in Arkansas doing bioinformatics! • 7 more MS and 1 PhD expected to graduate in 2010 http://bioinformatics.ualr.edu/faculty AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

4. Bioinformatics Graduate Program (continued) • MS Graduates • 9 continued on into PhD program • 1 completed internal medicine residency last May (Austin) • 1 pursing biophysics PhD (U Maryland) • 1 still managing UAMS DNA Sequencing Facility • 1 continued employment in computer science • PhD Graduates • 2 working at National Center for Toxicological Research • 1 FDA Commissioners Fellow and 1 post-doc • 2 working at UAMS • 1 post-doc and 1 working in new Pharmacogenomics Center • 1 working at Yale Center for High-Throughput Biology AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

5. MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society • Founded in 2002; 1st two conferences hosted in Little Rock • Incorporated with Board of Directors and Local Chapters; strong student emphasis AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

6. MCBIOS Conferences • Eighth Annual Conference • April 1/2 at Texas A&M • Seventh Annual Conference • February 19/20 at Arkansas State University • 234 attendees including 132 students • Attendees from 15 US states and Canada • Including CA, MD, PA, and SD www.MCBIOS.org AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

7. MidSouth Bioinformatics Center at UALR • Full-time Technical Director and half-time administrative assistant • Core users: 21 faculty and 40 students • Moving to 1600 sqft of space in new UALR building in June 2010 http://bioinformatics.ualr.edu/mbc AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

8. MBC Workshops • Wednesday Lunch Seminars • Feb 24 xNix File Guru • Mar  3   HTML Forms and CGI Basics • Mar 10 Perl Library Examples (1) • Mar 31 Perl Library Examples (2) • Apr  7    HTML Forms and CGI Basics • Apr 28 xNix File Guru • Friday afternoon Laptop Workshops • Feb 26   Intro to Perl • Mar 12 R Statistical Programming • Apr  2    Systems with Bioperl and MySQL • Apr 16   NCBI eUtils Web Services • Apr 30   From Zero to Hero: Learn to Publish Perl AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

9. Future Plans • Continue supporting Bioinformatics Graduate Program • Continue supporting MCBIOS • Continue strong workshop offerings • Continue national/international outreach • ISCB Education Committee • ISCB Affiliates Committee • Network of IDeA-funded Core Laboratories • Participation in regional/national NCRR programs • New collaboration with Jackson State University AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

10. Jackson State U Collaboration • May:  week-long, intensive, workshop on LAMP (Linux, Apache, mySQL, and Perl) by UALR MBC Technical Director and several BINF graduate students at JSU and work with students on individual, bioinformatics-related projects. • June:  JSU Bioinformatics Research Associate and four MS/advanced undergraduate students at UALR to work on individual research projects.  Tutorials will be offered at this time as needed. • September:  MBC Technical Director returns to JSU to conduct training on the R Statistical Analysis package during the 3-5pm weekday timeslots and to consult with students on their projects earlier in the day. • After new EIT building opened, online workshops for JSU, other RCMIs, and INBRE PUIs. AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

11. UALR CCTR Contribution The UAMS CTSA supports these efforts at UALR: • Design, implement, and evaluate information quality management processes for translational research • Develop  collaboration tools and systems for biomedical researchers • Develop a short course entitled Data Quality Issues and Solutions in Clinical Translational Research AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core

12. Little Rock Central High School Junior Ms. Kamakshi L. Duvvuru recently presented her year-two results for “Bioinformatic Identification of Novel Protein Domains” at the Central Arkansas Regional Science Fair. The partial results are from a planned three-year project under the direction of Mr. Roger Hall, Technical Director of the MidSouth Bioinformatics Center at UALR. Ms. Duvvuru was awarded 1st Place for Senior Division Computer Science on her way to 1st Place Overall and the first Arkansas invitation to the 2010 International Science Fair in San Jose, CA this May. Additionally, Ms. Duvvuru won the Army Math/Computer Science Award, Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award, and a UALR Excellence in Information or Computing Award. Ms. Duvvuru is currently being considered for the NIH Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research, and plans to complete her project before entering the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology as a Senior in December 2010. AR INBRE Bioinformatics Core