Xena’s insights from her placement with EMBL-EBI’s training team
Xena Dyball, a Quadram Institute Bioscience student joined the EMBL-EBI Training team for her internship. Her PhD research focuses on the role of bacteriophages in bacterial adaptation to the human gut. Below Xena discusses what she learned during her three month internship.
“I chose the EMBL-EBI internship as I have a strong interest in bioinformatics and am also curious as to how training materials are developed. The goal for my internship was to create digital learning resources for the “on demand” section of EMBL-EBI’s training website.
At the start of my internship, I spent time exploring the training website, learning about the various formats of e-learning materials and the data resources available from EMBL-EBI. As I browsed the content, I began brainstorming ideas for creating new online tutorials. Coming from a microbiology background, I noticed that many existing materials focused on plant or human biology, leaving a gap in microbiology-specific content. After considering various topics, we decided to focus on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for a new tutorial, as AMR is a major research area with strong connections to bioinformatics concepts.
Most of my internship was focused on developing the content for the tutorial, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Along the way, I learned a lot about AMR and the different EMBL-EBI data resources. Designing interactive activities and practical examples for the tutorial was especially fun, though some activities were more challenging to create than others. Working in WordPress, I uploaded content and designed the tutorial layout, making the project feel truly hands-on. Seeing it all come together and eventually go live was incredibly rewarding.
In addition to developing the online tutorial, I had the chance to experience various other aspects of the training team’s work, including:
- Observing and running webinars
- Supporting live training courses, both virtual and in-person
- Creating resources for training events
- Attending data science workshops
- Participating in training team retreats
- Attending group meetings
Through these experiences, I gained insights into training-related topics, including website design, training techniques, analytics, video editing, and AI.
Through my internship, I developed stronger scientific writing and editing skills, gained valuable insights into online teaching methods, and learned how to use new digital tools for content development. I met and collaborated with inspiring people and discovered just how much planning and expertise goes into creating impactful training courses. Overall, this experience gave me a fresh perspective on bioinformatics training and a deeper appreciation for the training team’s work.”
Dr Anna Swan, Xena’s host supervisor commented, “during the internship we have not just had the benefit of a very capable and enthusiastic scientist joining our team, but also a new voice who was keen to share their ideas and get involved in the many different aspects of our work. Whilst Xena spent her internship with the Training Team at EMBL-EBI and learnt much about how the team works, she also interacted with staff from many other teams across EMBL and I think this has given her an insight into the breadth of work and roles.”