The demand for well-trained Bioinformaticians to support genomics research continues to rise. Unfortunately, undergraduate training in Kenya does not prepare students for specialisation in Bioinformatics. The graduates are not aware of the career opportunities in Bioinformatics, and those who do lack mentors to help choose a specialisation. icipe has been instrumental in bridging this gap through short-term training and workshops, but this has not been sufficient. Those who receive the training lack support to continue learning and apply the skills gained in research projects. Additionally, this approach is unsustainable; there is low retention of Bioinformatics skills gained. The EANBiT program is a step in the right direction towards filling the training and retention gap, but it is not enough.
The purpose of the internship is to impart the following competencies:
In this incubation program, we will follow a curriculum that identifies students with diverse interests in the program.
Introduction to Collaborative tools (1 day)
Introduction to genomics (3 days)
Open Science (1-day workshop)
Introduction to Bioinformatics (for this part, we will use the H3ABioNet programs) —One Week Self-paced Quick Introduction to these concepts.
Mini-project
Learning Roadmap:
Linux/Unix/Bash
Python
R
All-round resources