Bioinformatics workshop at the saarländische Schülerakademie 2017

From 2nd to 16th of July 2017, the 19th workshop of the saarländische Schülerakademie, which is organized by the Beratungsstelle Hochbegabung Saarland, was taking place at the youth and adult education center in Wallerfangen, „Haus Sonnental“.

During the first two weeks of the summer holiday, students of the upper school were challenged to address problems from different areas.

There was also a bioinformatics workshop available that was managed by three members of the CBI, PhD-student Daria Gaidar, juniorprofessor Tobias Marschall and Dr. Marcel Schulz . The course „Human genomes, viruses and EHEC bacteria - or how to solve a puzzle with one billion pieces“ offered the students the opportunity to get acquainted with genome research, in particular genome sequencing and assembly. To this end, the participants developed a computer program that could be used to assemble a viral genome. Besides programming, the participants experimented with bacterial cultures and extracted DNA from strawberries. During an excursion to the Center for Bioinformatics at the Saarland University, they also visited the lab of professor Jörn Walter, where they could learn about modern sequencing techniques and machines. The course was complemented by lively discussions about ethical aspects of genome research.​

Here, you can view the article from Saarbrücker Zeitung.