UQ Science has signed a landmark licensing agreement with one of the world’s leading scientific software developers, CLC bio, which already has prominent research organisations like, Genomics Institute of Singapore, Institut Pasteur (France), and J. Craig Venter Institute (USA) among their current customers.
The agreement with Danish company CLC bio provides each student enrolled in the second-year genetics course with a copy of the company’s main bioinformatics platform, worth more than $2 million over four years.
Bioinformatics uses computers to interpret large amounts of biological data, from a task as simple as studying a single gene up to comparing the enormous amount of information in whole genomes.
“Different aspects of bioinformatics are taught in various subjects; we’re looking at analysing DNA sequences to understand mutation, gene regulation and gene structure,” Dr James Fraser said.
“Some of the best labs on campus are providing us with real experimental data they generated that the students will learn to interpret."
Co-ordinator of the new course, Dr Fraser said the deal came as part of a complete overhaul of the popular second-year genetics subject.
“We’ve combined two genetics subjects into one new one. The previous subjects were great – they were highly popular and had content that really helped students not only with their other subjects, but also their employability.
“But over the past few years there’ve been so many advances – both in the genetics discipline and technology – that we wanted to redesign the content while adding better technologies.”
Dr Fraser said CLC bio’s software platform was the most feature rich and user-friendly bioinformatics suite currently available.
He said it was used by many of the bioinformatics groups on campus, and also by the CSIRO and the Institute for Genomics Research – founders of the genomic era and the first group to complete whole genomes.
“We’re taking it to the next level – getting this easy to use, high-end bioinformatics power into the hands of almost every biology undergraduate, the next generation of Australian researchers," he said.
“CLC bio has only done a similar sponsorship agreement once before, at the Institut Pasteur in France. Having it available to BIOL2202 students free-of-charge is an incredible opportunity.”
But it’s part of a range of new technologies being used to make the course more engaging.
It’s not everyday that students are encouraged to use their mobile phones in lectures!
“We’ll also be using clickOn, a fantastic system were students can use their own mobile phones to answer quizzes during the lectures. We’ve used wireless voting technology before, but nothing anywhere near as cool as this,” Dr Fraser said.
“We have a team of some of the most popular lecturers on campus, all of whom are also remarkable researchers and leaders in their fields.
“The practicals are awesome, ranging from performing karyotypic analysis of real cancer cells (just like in a hospital laboratory) through to looking at genetic linkage of phenotypes in plant populations that have been collected from across the world.”
Dr Fraser said it was all about giving UQ Science students the best possible grounding in genetics, one of today’s most important scientific fields.
“Many scientific employers and supervisors see a strong understanding of genetics as a highly valuable characteristic in their laboratory members,” he said.
“In many respects genetics is the nexus of the biological disciplines, continuing to pioneer many of the core concepts that transform our understanding in all other fields of biology.
“The new subject addresses genetics from a modern molecular perspective by combining discussion of key advances in the field with the application of molecular genetic techniques that are essential tools in the modern biological sciences.”
With the largest enrolment of any second-year biology subject at UQ, Dr Fraser said the software agreement with CLC Bio had a large monetary value.
“A standalone license retails for $3500 – that’s what we have to pay to get the software into our labs to use it,” he said.
“Multiply that by 600 - the number of students who we predict will enrol – and you’re looking at $2,100,000.”
Media: Dr James Fraser, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (07 33654868 or j.fraser1@uq.edu.au) or Travis Taylor, Faculty of Science (07 33658598 or t.taylor1@uq.edu.au).
