Workshop & Seminar Series
Workshops and seminars hosted by the Bioinformatics Hub to build practical, reproducible bioinformatics skills.
Connecting Researchers and Biomedical Data
Bioinformatics Hub Showcase
Seminar Series
Event Information
Registration
Open Registration
Priority access given to mailing list subscribers.
The Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases established the Bioinformatics Hub to provide researchers with the expertise and support needed to launch projects, strengthen analyses, and advance discovery. As a new core program, it offers practical, robust, and reproducible bioinformatics solutions that help accelerate biomedical research.
We are pleased to invite you to the first official Bioinformatics Hub Showcase this April. This event will introduce our program, highlight our capabilities, and demonstrate how we support researchers across the University of Calgary. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about our services, meet the team, and explore opportunities for collaboration.
The Showcase will also include a preview of our upcoming HUB Workshop Series: High-performance Computing for Bioinformatics, a hands-on training session focused on building foundational Linux and HPC skills for research. Attendees will receive early access to workshop registration, with limited spaces available.
Schedule
| Time | Session | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:10 AM | Coffee, Arrival, and Setup Complimentary coffee provided — arrive early to enjoy a cup before the event begins. | — |
| 10:10 – 10:30 AM | Driving Translational Impact Through Next-Generation Bioinformatics | Braedon McDonald |
| 10:30 – 11:30 AM | Connecting Biomedical Data to Discovery: Transparent, Reproducible, and Collaborative Bioinformatics | Heewon Seo |
| 11:30 – 11:40 AM | Q & A | — |
We look forward to welcoming the University of Calgary research community to the inaugural Bioinformatics Hub Showcase. Join us to learn more, meet the team, and discover new opportunities for collaboration.
HUB (Hands-on Understanding of Bioinformatics) Workshop · Series 1
Linux/HPC for Bioinformatics
HUB Workshop Series
Event Information
Registration
Registration Opens Soon
Priority registration will be offered to Bioinformatics Hub Showcase attendees.
On a first-come, first-served basis.
Limit to 10 participants to maximize individual engagement and deliverables.
The Bioinformatics Hub is pleased to present the first HUB Workshop Series, focused on practical Linux and high-performance computing (HPC) skills for bioinformatics research. This workshop is designed to help participants build foundational command-line proficiency and develop the core competencies needed to use ARC (Advanced Research Computing) — the HPC environment at the University of Calgary.
This hands-on session covers Linux essentials — navigation, permissions, and file management — tailored for shared clusters. Instead of memorizing commands, you'll build a mental model of system logic, giving you the confidence to navigate and troubleshoot any HPC environment.
Prerequisites
This workshop is designed for beginners — no prior experience with Linux is required. You do not need an ARC account. We will provide a dedicated demo server to simulate both administrative and user perspectives, ensuring a consistent environment for all participants.
Please bring your own laptop. The workshop will be demonstrated on macOS- and Linux-based systems. Windows users are welcome and will receive connection instructions.
Materials
Slide Deck
Guided hands-on exercises for Linux skills and Slurm-based job management.
To ensure participants can focus on core concepts rather than software installation, the Bioinformatics Hub provides a fully pre-configured workshop environment — a dedicated demo cluster mirroring institutional HPC architecture, with all bioinformatics tools pre-deployed via containerization.
Workshop Schedule
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:30 |
Pre-workshop — Login Support Optional session to confirm laptop connectivity to the demo server before the main program begins. |
| 09:30 – 10:30 |
Session 1 — Linux Foundations for HPC
Hands-on ssh·pwd·cd·ls·mkdir·cp·mv·rm·cat·head·tail
|
| 10:45 – 12:00 |
Session 2 — HPC Architecture & Permissions
Hands-on ls -l·chmod·chgrp·chown·vi·/etc/group·/etc/passwd
|
| 12:00 – 13:00 |
Lunch Break Complimentary lunch provided for all participants. |
| 13:00 – 14:30 |
Session 3 — Using HPC Effectively with Slurm
Hands-on #SBATCH·sbatch·squeue·sacct·vi
|
| 14:45 – 15:30 |
Capstone Exercise Create a structured project directory, submit a Slurm job that calculates factorials using R or Python, verify output, and copy results to a shared folder with correct permissions. |
| 15:30 – 16:00 |
Q & A Final discussion, questions, and workshop wrap-up. |
Learning Objectives
- Navigate the Linux filesystem confidently using standard command-line tools.
- Manage data safely by creating, moving, renaming, and removing files and directories.
- Interpret and modify permissions and group ownership to support collaborative research.
- Understand the structural components of an HPC cluster, including login nodes, compute nodes, and shared storage.
- Explain the role of a job scheduler and how resources are allocated in a shared environment.
- Submit and monitor jobs using the Slurm workload manager on a dedicated workshop cluster.
- Understand the role of HPC administrators and know what support they can provide.
FAQ
Useful Readings
Using AI thoughtfully to advance biomedical discovery
AI in Biomedical Research
Seminar Series
Event Information
Registration
Open Registration
Priority access given to mailing list subscribers.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming biomedical research, opening new possibilities for how researchers analyze data, generate ideas, and work more efficiently. Tools such as ChatGPT and other AI-based platforms are increasingly being used to support tasks ranging from coding and literature review to writing, data interpretation, and research communication.
As these technologies become more visible in academic and scientific settings, many researchers are asking not only what AI can do, but how to use it well. This session will introduce practical ways AI can support research workflows, while also addressing its limitations, risks, and the importance of using these tools thoughtfully.
Through real-world examples and discussion, attendees will gain a clearer sense of where AI can add value in biomedical research and how to approach it in a way that is informed, responsible, and effective.
Schedule
| Time | Session | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 – 11:50 AM |
AI in Biomedical Research: Practical Uses and Best Practices
|
Heewon Seo |
| 11:50 AM – 12:00 PM | Q & A | — |
Resources & Further Reading
We look forward to welcoming the University of Calgary research community to this Bioinformatics Hub Seminar. Join us to learn how AI can support biomedical research, discover practical strategies for setting up and tailoring these tools, and explore how they can be used thoughtfully and effectively in your own research workflow.
HUB (Hands-on Understanding of Bioinformatics) Workshop · Series 2
16S rRNA Amplicon Seq. Data Analysis
HUB Workshop Series
Event Information
Registration
Registration Opens One Month Before
On a first-come, first-served basis.
Limit to 10 participants to maximize individual engagement and deliverables.
The Bioinformatics Hub is pleased to launch the second HUB Workshop Series with Microbiome Data Analysis. This workshop will introduce foundational concepts and practical approaches for analyzing microbiome sequencing data, including data processing, taxonomic profiling, and basic downstream analyses.
Participants will be introduced to our end-to-end analysis approach, including quality control, taxonomic profiling, and downstream statistical interpretation. We will also discuss how we evaluate and benchmark widely used microbiome analysis tools to ensure robust and reproducible results, and highlight version-controlled frameworks and best practices that support transparent and scalable microbiome research.
Prerequisites
This workshop is intended for beginners — no prior experience with microbiome analysis is required. Basic familiarity with R is helpful but not mandatory. Foundational Linux concepts will not be covered; however, participants will be guided through a small number of command-line steps to launch Docker-based analysis environments.
Please bring your own laptop with the following installed:
Materials
16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing Data (FASTQ)
28 MB — sample data for hands-on practice
Docker Application
Containerized analysis environment — no manual installation required
Detailed setup instructions will be provided to guide installation, environment configuration, and data access — ensuring you are fully prepared before the workshop begins.
Workshop Schedule
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:30 |
Pre-workshop — Docker Installation Support Optional session to help participants install and verify Docker before the hands-on training begins. |
| 09:30 – 10:20 |
Session 1 — Introduction to 16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing
|
| 10:30 – 12:00 |
Session 2 — Introduction to R for Bioinformatics Hands-on
|
| 12:00 – 13:00 |
Lunch Break Complimentary lunch provided for all participants. |
| 13:00 – 14:30 |
Session 3 — 16S rRNA Data Preprocessing
Hands-on
|
| 14:50 – 15:40 |
Session 4 — Taxonomic Assignment, Analysis & Visualization
Hands-on
|
| 15:40 – 16:00 |
Q & A Final discussion, questions, and workshop wrap-up. |
Learning Objectives
Part 1
Quality control, denoising, and ASV inference
Part 2
Taxonomy assignment, analysis, and visualization
- Understand the structure and characteristics of 16S rRNA sequencing data.
- Perform quality control and preprocessing of raw sequencing reads.
- Generate and interpret taxonomic profiles and feature tables.
- Create publication-ready visualizations for microbiome datasets.
- Run reproducible microbiome analysis workflows using Docker-based environments.
FAQ
No past events yet — check back after our upcoming workshops and seminars have concluded. We look forward to seeing you there!