15th Discussion-24 Feb 2014

Brief Description and Continuing Discussion:

Topic 1: The Biologist is the Analyst

Introduction and Preliminary Information

As large scale bioinformatics analyses become increasingly common it is often the case that much of the analysis for a project will not be carried out by a dedicated bioinformatician but will instead be undertaken by the biologists responsible for generating the data. Improved bioinformatics knowledge and training along with the development of a number of more biologist friendly tools means that this is more viable solution than before, and is something which core facilities will have to adapt to.

In this session we will explore this topic, focusing on questions such as:

• Are you seeing a shift in your facility to analysis being performed by biologists

• What tools or facilities have you provided to help this transition. Is this something you welcome or encourage?

• Has the presence of user based analysis changed the balance of work within your facility?

• Have you seen problems in the analysis performed by biologists which might have been avoided if these were done by your facility. Is there any way to avoid these problems?

• How do you allow and manage access to large computational or data resources by biologists? Has this caused problems?

• Does the way your service is perceived by biologists changed once they start to do their own analysis. Do you think this might impact recognition on eventual publications?

Topic 2: Open Forum (Led by TBC)

We will again be holding an open forum to quickly cover any other topics which people would like to discuss. We have had a few suggestions in advance which are listed below, but we can add more topics on the day.

• How are people preparing for the new Human Genome Build GRCh38? Is anyone using it yet?

• Nanopore sequencers - who is involved in the early access programme? What are you planning to do?

• Reports from meetings attended. Anything useful from AGBT or elsewhere?

• Broadening our use of the wiki.