Xena Dyball joined the EMBL-EBI Training team for a 3 month internship in September 2024. Here, she discusses more about her internship and what she learned during her time with us.

Hi! My name is Xena, and I am a PhD student based at the Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norwich, UK. My research focuses on the role of bacteriophages in bacterial adaptation to the human gut. 

I recently joined the EMBL-EBI training team as my PhD programme provides the opportunity to do a 3-month internship in an area outside my core research. I chose this internship because 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.

Creating an online tutorial

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 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!

Beyond content creation

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.

What I gained

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.