{"id":262465,"date":"2026-03-27T10:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T10:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/?p=262465"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:38:32","slug":"event-report-embl-ebi-cor25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/2026\/03\/event-report-embl-ebi-cor25\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest blog: Monash bioinformatics manager gains global insights at EMBL\u2011EBI leadership workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Emily Purcell, Communications Manager, EMBL Australia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr\u202fLaura Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez, Manager of the Monash Genomics and Bioinformatics Platform\u2019s Bioinformatics Node<\/a>, recently joined bioinformatics leaders from around the world to take part in the Managing a Bioinformatics Core Facility course<\/a> at the European Bioinformatics Institute<\/a> (EMBL\u2011EBI) in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Held from 8 \u2013 10 December 2025, the knowledge\u2011exchange workshop brought together managers of bioinformatics core facilities to share strategies, discuss challenges, and learn from EMBL\u2011EBI\u2019s experienced service teams. As facilities continue to support increasingly data-intensive research across genomics, proteomics, and structural biology, the course focuses on issues such as resourcing, reporting, project management, and the design of sustainable, high\u2011impact services.

Dr Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez<\/a>, a specialist in transcriptomics and microbial genomics, said she had been seeking management training tailored to bioinformatics platforms, as neither purely industry\u2011focused nor traditional academic programs met her needs.

\u201cThis course stood out because it is specialised and tailored for exactly my position\u2026 so it was a no\u2011brainer to take the opportunity and I am glad I did!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning from a global community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n


\"smiling
Image credit: Jeff Dowling \/ EMBL-EBI<\/em>

The workshop emphasises peer learning, and Dr Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez said this was one of the most valuable aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne highlight was having in the same room a group of managers from around the world discussing similar challenges and sharing alternative solutions,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that the course content addressed the practical realities of running a core facility \u2013 from team management and user training, to cost models and impact reporting.

\u201cManagement, structure, finances, and reporting are quite specific from a platform perspective, and the instructors did a great job of explaining the motivation behind each of the solutions they presented.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing new frameworks and tools back to Monash<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dr Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez returned to Monash University with several concrete ideas to strengthen operations at the Bioinformatics Node, which acts as a hub for the university\u2019s network of bioinformaticians and partners in training and infrastructure development.

\u201cThe course gave me several concrete takeaways,\u201d <\/em>she said. \u201cI came away with a more strategic framework for managing and reporting on my team\u2019s activities, and a clearer approach to leveraging existing management tools, rather than reinventing the wheel.\u201d<\/em>

\u201cIt also gave me practical ideas around structuring services, tracking utilisation, and communicating the platform\u2019s value to stakeholders. I am already thinking about how to apply some of these frameworks to make our operations more transparent and sustainable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting researchers through better\u2011managed platforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As research teams grapple with increasingly large and complex datasets, strong operational practices in core facilities are becoming essential. Dr Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez said the workshop reinforced the link between good management and better scientific support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA well-managed platform doesn\u2019t struggle under administrative burden, and that directly frees the team to focus on research problems rather than operational ones,\u201d <\/em>she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy investing time in automating processes and improving our standard operating procedures and workflows, we reduce friction for everyone. The result is that researchers get faster, more consistent support, and the team has more capacity to engage with complex and emerging computational challenges.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A globally connected community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\"three
Image credit: Jeff Dowling \/ EMBL-EBI<\/em>

Beyond the structured sessions, Dr Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez said the most valuable part of the experience was being surrounded by peers who understood the unique space bioinformatics platforms occupy.

\u201cI learned a great deal from the course itself, but honestly the best part was being in a room full of people who truly understood the unique challenges of running a bioinformatics platform,\u201d<\/em> she said.

\u201cLearning not just from the instructors but from the experiences and expertise of the other participants made the whole experience incredibly enriching.\u201d<\/em>

More training opportunities<\/strong>
In 2025, Australian researchers also attended\u00a0EMBL-EBI training events<\/a>\u00a0relating to structural bioinformatics, methods for infectious disease modelling using genomics, metabolomics analysis, RNA-seq and functional interpretation and single-cell RNA-seq analysis with Python, as well as many events at EMBL\u2019s other European sites.

The learning materials from the course \u2018Managing a Bioinformatics Core Facility\u2019 can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.

Original blog<\/a> posted by EMBL Australia. Adapted by Rebecca Nicholl, Marketing and Communications Manager, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr\u202fLaura Perlaza\u2011Jim\u00e9nez joined bioinformatics leaders from around the world to take part in a unique course on managing a bioinformatics core facility at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":262471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8608],"tags":[7874,12631,9802,8292],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-262465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-report","tag-course","tag-course-report","tag-embl-ebi-training","tag-event-report"],"acf":[],"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-content\/uploads\/COR25-Australia-blog.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262465"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262533,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262465\/revisions\/262533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262465"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/course-and-conference-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=262465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}