A model for Bioinformatics training: the marine biological laboratory

Many areas of science such as biology, medicine and oceanography are becoming increasingly data-rich and most programs that train scientists do not address informatics techniques or technologies that are necessary for managing and analysing large amounts of data. Educational resources for scientists in informatics are scarce, yet scientists need the skills and knowledge to work with informaticians and manage graduate students and post-docs in informatics projects. The Marine Biological Laboratory houses a world-renowned library and is involved in a number of informatics projects in the sciences. The MBL has been home to the National Library of Medicine's BioMedical Informatics Course for nearly two decades and is committed to educating scientists and other scholars in informatics. In an innovative, immersive learning experience, G.Y., a biologist and post-doc at Arizona State University, visited the Science Informatics Group at the MBL to learn first hand how informatics is done and how informatics teams work. Hands-on work with developers, systems administrators, librarians and other scientists provided an invaluable education in informatics and is a model for future science informatics training.