Bioinformatics Workshop: Molecular Dynamics

The importance of learning to analyse and interpret present day high throughput sequencing technology (HTS) data (DNA, RNA & Protein) in biology, has been introduced by IWSA from 2017. An initiative to promote scientific curiosity and develop these computational skills among future scientists’(MSc & PhD students) have begun through a series of `hands on training workshops’ at the IWSA computer center, Vashi Navi Mumbai. Two workshops of 4 days each were held in September and December of year 2018. The primary requisite for accessing HTS data is to navigate Linux operating systems and for that the first 2 days were dedicated to learning and practising commands for linux. The first workshop focussed on RNA sequencing data analysis using open source pipeline READemption, developed by Dr Konrad Forstner, Germany. The second workshop was based on protein dynamics where GROMACS open source software was used to perform molecular dynamics and perform critical analysis on protein data. Each pipeline was taught step by step to understand, process and analyse RNA data in the former and molecular dynamics simulation of proteins in the later. Both workshops concluded in scientific observation and interpretations shared by students based on their newly acquired skills. The second knowledge sharing initiative also supported the introduction of an upcoming science enthusiast group known as Lake Water Bioinformatics which helped in smooth conduction of the workshop. A total of 82 students were trained so far.