NCBI Virtual Workshop: An Introduction to NCBI Cloud Computing for Biologists

NCBI Virtual Workshop: An Introduction to NCBI Cloud Computing for Biologists. NLM Tech Bull. 2021 Sep-Oct;(442):b12.

[Editor's note: A recording of the workshop is available.]

On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, join the staff of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) for a virtual workshop on NCBI Cloud Computing.

As DNA sequencing becomes a commonplace tool in biological research, the need for accessible, scalable, and secure computational environments to process this deluge of data is growing. NCBI has partnered with leading cloud computing providers to provide tools and data to this growing industry. This workshop is designed for experimental biologists without cloud computing experience. While not required, it is most useful for researchers who do sequence-based research and who have some familiarity interacting with a Linux command-line.

In this online, interactive workshop you will learn how to:

• Navigate the AWS cloud console page and understand how to access and use some popular console-based tools.
• Access and mine metadata for information in the NCBI SRA database to select an interesting dataset for further study using the AWS Athena service.
• Retrieve SRA sequence data and perform a sequence alignment analysis using the containerized NCBI tool MagicBLAST.
• Visualize the aligned data against the wealth of information in NCBI databases by uploading it to the NCBI Genome Data Viewer browser application.

This workshop is intended for biological and biomedical researchers and educators including undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, research assistants/associates, professors, and biology librarians who work with sequence data but do NOT have experience in a cloud environment. This is an introductory workshop. This workshop was NOT designed for experienced cloud users or developers. This workshop will accept a limited number of participants to facilitate the best possible educational experience. Applicants will be informed of their status at least 2 weeks before the event.

Date and Time: Tuesday, November 16, 2021, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm PT / 11:00 am - 2:00 pm MT / 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm CT / 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET

Apply here: https://nlmenterprise.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fAqBvq3HzBkqto

NCBI is accepting applications until November 1st.

Find more workshops and more information on the new Outreach Events page of the NCBI Insights Blog.