Bioinformatics training for researchers striving to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

We are thrilled to announce that Menzies School of Health Research is joining our National Bioinformatics Training Cooperative to increase its reach and impact across Australia. Menzies School of Health Research is one of Australia's leading medical research institutes dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and a leader in global and tropical health research into life-threatening diseases. Through partnerships with communities across northern Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, Menzies aims to translate their research into real change, and we hope the National Bioinformatics Training Cooperative can support this ambition.

In the past, we’ve noticed that national training events sometimes have participants representing all Australian states and territories - except for the Northern Territory. Seeking a way to reach more researchers in the NT, we invited Dr Mariana Barnes to join the Bioinformatics Training Cooperative. 

Mariana is the Menzies’ High Performance Computing Support Officer and Bioinformatician. She’s responsible for software and user management of the HPC servicing both Charles Darwin University and Menzies. She provides training to enable researchers to utilise the local HPC, as well as undertaking her own Malaria research. Mariana is investigating targeted sequencing of diagnostic and surveillance markers in Plasmodium vivax and the human host.

“Working in the NT can be isolating, and sometimes leads to limited opportunities for networking, training and mentorship. I hope the Cooperative will be a way to facilitate some of that and I am very excited to be able to be part of it. I’m looking forward to facilitating training for - and maybe by - my colleagues here in the NT and connect us to the rest of Australia.”

Dr Mariana Barnes, Menzies School of Health Research

Mariana is going to help share information about our national program of free training events, assist with their delivery and connect us with her local research community. Say hello if you meet Mariana in a virtual break out room at one of our upcoming online workshops, and please make her NT colleagues feel welcome.