Testimonials

CBW Alumni

The workshop did an amazing job to educate me in bioinformatics, both
in terms of the underlying science and in terms of practical tools,
techniques and on-line resources. I can't imagine a more effective
two-week exposure. The presenters and TAs were first rate. I was
impressed with their willingness and ability to convey excitement,
enthusiasm and knowledge in a way that I could grasp. It was great to
work cooperatively with fellow attendees as a team. The diversity of
backgrounds and interests was an unexpected bonus. We all worked hard
but, we also had fun.

Dr. Bob Woodham
Former Chair of Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia

The workshop was an excellent and quick exposure to the tools I need for my research.

Dr. Felix Braden
Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University

The bioinformatics workshops have put a computer engineer at the
same level and maybe beyond most biologists in regards of
bioinformatics knowledge and technology. After this workshop I can
truly work head to head with researchers at the University of Puerto
Rico, and at other Puerto Rico institutions. I took the decision to go
all the way to Canada to learn bioinformatics and I don't regret it.
This workshop series has been a great experience and a very powerful
tool for my professional work.

Carlos M Rodriguez
Head of High Performance Computing facility, University of Puerto Rico

Good work, please keep it up and add more workshops to the series. I
hope that the funding agencies to continually support a nice Canadian
scientific (educational) initiative to enable and encourage the
students and other applicants an affordable opportunity to enhance
their scientific skills.

Dr. JT. Reddy, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Consultant, University of Washington

I found the Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops extremely valuable to
my research. They expanded the breadth of my knowledge of genomics and
proteomics and gave me what I consider to be state of the art tools for
bioinformatics analysis of DNA and protein sequence data. Two
collaborations have grown out of the contacts I made through the
bioinformatics workshop and I made several good friendships.

Dr. Felix D. Guerrero
Research Physiologist, Knipling-Bushland, Texas

The courses offered in this series are of very a high standard
taught by the leading experienced and knowledgeable teachers and
teaching assistants. I highly recommend the courses to all biologists,
biomedical scientists and computer scientists with a strong interest in
bioinformatics. Thanks to CGDN for organizing the workshop and CBDN for
the financial support. It was the best postgraduate course series I
have ever attended.

Dr. Dipankar Das
Research Associate, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta

Pre-2004 Alumni

As a CGDN PI and a student at
the Bioinformatics and Genomics workshops, I am very proud of the leadership
role CGDN has taken in teaching bioinformatics across Canada. We've had
the opportunity to attend a truly cross-disciplinary training program
that attracted biologists and computer scientists from academia and industry
alike. Some of the students have already gone on to lead the development
of bioinformatics within their own universities and companies. These
are exciting times for science and the Bioinformatics Workshops are helping
make Canada a full participant.

Roy Gravel
Professor, University of Calgary and Principal Investigator, Canadian Genetic Diseases Network (CGDN)

Last year, as a biologist working for Health Canada,
I was struggling to devise a career path which would not relocate my expertise
to foreign opportunities – namely the US. The Canadian Bioinformatics
Workshops provided me the opportunity to both immerse myself in bioinformatics
and provided a forum which brings together an incredible cross section
of industry, government and academic professionals. It is rare to be
able to interact with such a diverse set of professional in a single venue
– especially in Canada. This was complemented by a very well delivered
and extremely challenging curriculum. It must have been a truly monumental
task to attract such a talented set of professionals to lecture and teach
these courses. I remain in awe.

Charles Dendy
Bioinformatics/UNIX Systems Expert, DNA Landmarks Inc., Montreal

The University of Alberta
is offering an undergraduate degree program in Bioinformatics, with streams
drawn from Biological Sciences and Computing. I will be teaching a major
portion of the bioinformatics courses, and my ability to do this is a
direct consequence of having participated in the Canadian Bioinformatics
Workshops in the last year. I am also helping to organize a new high-throughput
molecular biology facility to dovetail with the combinatorial chemistry
and proteomics initiatives in the department of Chemistry. Once again,
my ability to do this is largely dependent on what I learned in the workshops.

Warren Gallin
Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

I participated at 3 workshops last year (Bioinformatics,
Genomics and Developing the Tools). Each workshop was a unique experience
and a great source of knowledge. I attribute the success of these workshops
to the great organisation and to the teachers’ know-how. These workshops
have had a tremendous impact on my career. One month after taking the
first workshop, I was appointed Bioinformatics Director of my company.
A new challenge that I would not be so confident to succeed without the
knowledge I acquired with the Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops. It also
gave me the wishes to continue my scholarship and I started a part-time
PhD in computer science, with a research group in Bioinformatics. In conclusion,
these workshops open to me a new exciting career in Bioinformatics.

Andre Caron
Bioinformatics Director, SignalGene Inc. Montreal

The bioinformatics workshops
opened my eyes to the direction biological examinations are taking - out
of the wet lab and into the computer lab. The courses enhanced my understanding
of the vast abilities computers have. The introductory bioinformatics
course enables biologists and computer scientists to interactively solve
problems, while developing the skills necessary to solve problems in their
own labs. The demand for people with the ability to integrate computers
in the biology lab setting is currently soaring. The course I attended,
namely introductory bioinformatics and genomics, allowed me to develop
my skills in basic programming and allowed me the knowledge and confidence
to explore the technology available.

Melissa Dobson
Graduate Student, University of Saskatchewan