About¶
Info
Expressions of interest are now open. To apply please fill in the form linked at the bottom of the page. Expressions close 11:59pm 17th Sept 2026 NZST (GMT+12:00)
Bioinformatics Spring School 2026 is a week long training event for researchers, supported by Genomics Aotearoa (GA) and Research Education Advanced Network New Zealand (REANNZ).
We will combine talks from researchers and hands on computational workshops (influenced by The Carpentries), covering example bioinformatic workflows.
This event is organised by:
- Dr Chloe Van Der Burg (Genomics Aotearoa)
- Matt Bixley (REANNZ)
- Professor Mik Black (Biochemistry)
- Dr Murray Cadzow (eResearch Support)
Cost?¶
This event itself will only cost your time (there isn't a $ charge) and lunches will be provided. Attendees will need to fund all other travel related expenses.
When and where?¶
- 9:30 - 16:30, 16-20 November 2026
- University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- This is an in-person event.
Preliminary Schedule:¶
Info
The workshop content is in a draft state and (mostly) available to look through already if you follow the links.
Monday:¶
- Introduction to an HPC environment
- Introduction to Unix Shell
- Indigenous genomic data considerations
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Welcome |
| 10:00 | REANNZ platform orientation |
| 10:40 | Break |
| 11:00 | Indigenous Genomic Data |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | Unix Shell |
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 | Unix Shell cont |
| 16:30 | Done |
Tuesday:¶
- Introduction to Genomic Variant Calling
- Common genomic data formats
- an example variant calling pipeline using common tools
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Talk |
| 10:00 | Genomic Data Carpentry |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:50 | Genomic Data Carpentry |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | Genomic Data Carpentry |
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 | Genomic Data Carpentry |
| 16:30 | Done |
Wednesday:¶
- Introduction to Genome Assembly
- How to assemble a genome using long reads
- Using the scheduler
- Plotting and data manipulation in R
- Creating plots with ggplot
- Data manipulation with the Tidyverse
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Genome Assembly |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:50 | Genome Assembly |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | R |
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 | R cont |
| 16:30 | Done |
Thursday:¶
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Talk |
| 10:00 | RNAseq |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:50 | RNAseq |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | RNAseq |
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 | RNAseq |
| 16:30 | Done |
Friday:¶
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Talk |
| 10:00 | Nanopore |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:50 | Nanopore cont. |
| 12:15 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | Version control |
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 | Version control cont. |
| 16:30 | Done |
I'm interested! How do I apply?¶
The Otago Bioinformatics Spring School is a popular event but we have a limited number of places to offer. To keep the process as fair as possible and not 'who got the email first' we invite you to fill in an Expression of interest.
- Expressions of interest will open mid-July and close 11:59pm 17th September NZST (GMT+12:00)
- Applications are open to those residing in New Zealand
- Selected applicants will be emailed about a week after expressions of interest close.