In late October I was awarded a teaching grant from the University of Utah Teaching Committee, to incorporate the use of Galaxy into the teaching of bioinformatics in the department. Galaxy is an online framework that embeds bioinformatics tools into a user friendly interface. It also enables the sharing of work flows. This will enable students to participate in more hands on activities and explore real data. As we have students entering the department from many backgrounds and disciplines, it can be difficult difficult to hit the right balance. Galaxy will enable the students to gain confidence in by practicing what they learn. BMI PhD student Amy Sheide will be in charge of implementing the new activities.
We were also incredibly fortunate to host a one day workshop by Galaxy’s own Dave Clements, who gave a novice user tutorial to about 30 students, faculty and postdocs from across the university. A very productive day was had by all involved.