Training Experimental Biologists in Bioinformatics

Table 2

Sample responses regarding the reasons for the observed change (“redundant” answers have been omitted for clarity).

A1	“I have (acquired) a new perspective about the biological questions involved in my research lines that previously I hadn’t. I have perceived the importance and the utilities of managing biological databases in order to approach my research, mainly with regard to gene functional annotation.”
A2	“(…) by making me better understand published work and knowing (about) additional Bioinformatics tools at my disposition.”
A3	“Yes and no, I already knew that bioinformatics methods could add value, but your course showed me the tools available to put this into practice.”
A4	“I have done the MEPA11 course that led me to think much more about what I’m doing evolution-wise, and how some of the stuff I’m doing may be analyzed, using some of the tools I have learned in the course.”
A5	“The attendance of the Bioinformatics training courses gave me the skills to begin a new line of research, concerning molecular evolution.”
A6	“Yes, I’m currently analyzing data and I’m trying to incorporate the knowledge obtained in GTPB Course as an added value to the previously projected statistical analysis.”
A7	“Yes, Bioinformatics tools and methods brought to the “traditional” biology means of analyzing and simulating biological data (capacity of analyzing large amounts of data), and obtain a couple of possible results that can be later verified in a laboratory.”
A8	“Yes, I now try to take more advantage from the Bioinformatics tools for data exploration but also for prediction or statistical validation of the data sets.”
A9	“Yes. Through a better awareness of available methods and tools and how they may help answer questions in my research line.”