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Nicholas Marazzi accepts first place for bioinformatics and computational biology at the awards ceremony for poster session winners during Missouri Life Sciences Week 2019. | photo by Danielle Pycior, Bond LSC
It has been a busy term for the 49Women in Science Committee, which was formed five years ago after identifying the need for supports and guidance for young women pursuing a career in STEM. Our fall 2022 student event was held on-campus on October 13. Students had the privilege of listening to guest speaker Dr. Fiona Brinkman, SFU professor in Bioinformatics and head of the Brinkman Lab. She shared her educational and career journey, inspiring those in attendance with what is possible.
ECCB 10th Anniversary Keynote: Janet Thornton, European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Throughout the streets of Bangalore everywhere there are posters, flyers, and billboards advertising IT jobs. This is a large poster for jobs in Bioinformatics, Oracle, .NET, and J2EE. The light poles are covered with flyers like this.
Applet available at http://lindenb.integragen.org/breakpoint/.
This applet takes as input the breakpoint analysis data (Nature. Dib et al.(1996); 380:152-154) from the 'Fondation Jean-Dausset' (CEPH) and display the Identical By Descent (IBD) regions between a pair of related individuals. Two people share an allele identical by descent if the two copies of the allele were inherited from a common ancestor. A pair of siblings can share 0, 1, or 2 alleles:
0: not the same alleles
1: only one allele in common
2: both same alleles
It has been a busy term for the 49Women in Science Committee, which was formed five years ago after identifying the need for supports and guidance for young women pursuing a career in STEM. Our fall 2022 student event was held on-campus on October 13. Students had the privilege of listening to guest speaker Dr. Fiona Brinkman, SFU professor in Bioinformatics and head of the Brinkman Lab. She shared her educational and career journey, inspiring those in attendance with what is possible.
JBI Award for the Best Paper in Translational Bioinformatics announced: Ankur Parikh, Carnegie Mellon University, United States, *TREEGL: Reverse Engineering Tree-evolving Gene Networks Underlying Developing Biological Lineages*
Christopher L. Barrett, Executive Director, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute/Professor of Computer Science, Virginia Tech. Dr. Barrett’s talk entitled “Massively Interactive Systems: Thinking and Deciding in the Age of Big Data"
Abstract: This talk discusses advanced computationally assisted reasoning about large interaction-dominated systems. Current questions in science, from the biochemical foundations of life to the scale of the world economy, involve details of huge numbers and levels of intricate interactions. Subtle indirect causal connections and vastly extended definitions of system boundaries dominate the immediate future of scientific research. Beyond sheer numbers of details and interactions, the systems are variously layered and structured in ways perhaps best described as networks. Interactions include, and often co-create, these morphological and dynamical features, which can interact in their own right. Such “massively interacting” systems are characterized by, among other things, large amounts of data and branching behaviors. Although the amount of associated data is large, the systems do not even begin to explore their entire phase spaces. Their study is characterized by advanced computational methods. Major methodological revisions seem to be indicated.
Heretofore unavailable and rapidly growing basic source data and increasingly powerful computing resources drive complex system science toward unprecedented detail and scale. There is no obvious reason for this direction in science to change. The cost of acquiring data has historically dominated scientific costs and shaped the research environment in terms of approaches and even questions. In the several years, as the costs of social data, biological data and physical data have plummeted on a per-unit basis and as the volume of data is growing exponentially, the cost drivers for scientific research have clearly shifted from data generation to storage and analytical computation-based methods. The research environment is rapidly being reshaped by this change and, in particular, the social and bio–sciences are revolutionized by it. Moreover, the study of socially– and biologically–coupled systems (e.g., societal infrastructures and infectious disease public health policy analysis) is in flux as computation-based methods begin to greatly expand the scope of traditional problems in revolutionary ways.
How does this situation serve to guide the development of “information portal technology” for complex system science and for decision support? An example of an approach to detailed computational analysis of social and behavioral interaction with physical and infrastructure effects in the immediate aftermath of a devastating disaster will be described in this context.
How Honduras managed to carry out genomic sequencing for the first time
June 2023
When microbiologist Soany Ávilez was selected to implement the genomic sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Honduras, she was amazed. In the wake of the pandemic, Soany had started working at the National Virology Laboratory in 2020 performing PCR tests. At that time, genomic sequencing to detect circulating variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 was carried out outside the country. But a project to provide Honduras with the capabilities to do it in situ and obtain faster results was being developed with technical support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and financial support from the United States Government.
Although she lacked knowledge on the subject, Soany remembers that she longed for the opportunity to work in sequencing. "When they chose us (her and her partner Karla Romero) to implement sequencing in the country and move the area forward, I couldn't believe it," she says.
Genomic surveillance allows us to know the evolution of viruses and other pathogens as they change over time. Knowing those changes or mutations that can modify its transmissibility and severity, allows us to guide public health measures. During the pandemic, it was a key strategy to monitor the behavior of SARS-CoV-2 and a technique that is being integrated into the surveillance of other pathogens.
Karla Romero, the other microbiologist in charge of genomic surveillance, acknowledges that the implementation of sequencing in Honduras has been "a great challenge" that required a lot of "sacrifice and commitment" both inside and outside the laboratory.
The sequencing area had to be created from scratch. In 2022, the authorities selected and conditioned a space within the National Virology Laboratory. With the support of PAHO, a sequencer, supplies, reagents, and furniture were purchased, and Soany and Karla were trained in bioinformatics and genomic sequencing at the Gorgas Memorial Institute in Panama.
“All with the aim of strengthening the capacities for genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in Honduras,” says Gabriela Rodriguez Segura, coordinator of the PAHO Project for the Consolidation of Genomic Sequencing Capacities in Honduras. Before these capacities were created at the local level, samples to determine the variants circulating in the country were sent to the laboratories of the Regional Network for Genomic Surveillance of COVID-19 (COVIGEN) created by PAHO to support countries without capacity to carry out sequencing in its territory.
In March 2023, the effort paid off and excitement took over the National Virology Laboratory when, after several attempts, the first sequencing of SARS-COV-2 in the country was successfully carried out. “We couldn't believe it,” says Soany. "We feel very happy because it was a great challenge and the result made us feel fulfilled."
On March 21, 2023, the results were obtained and it was the first time that the XBB sublineage of the omicron variant was detected in the country and by Honduran health professionals. For Karla, the key was “not to give up in the face of the biggest challenge”.
"It is a milestone for the country that genomic sequencing is being carried out," says Dr. Mitzi Castro, head of the National Health Surveillance Laboratory of Honduras. “It is a historic moment because we are starting from here to carry out future genomic surveillance of other pathogens of sanitary interest to the country,” she adds.
According to Dr. Castro, the country now has state-of-the-art technology. "The laboratory is at the forefront, and that is a success and a source of pride, for which we thank all those who have contributed their bit so that Honduras is not left behind."