From CRISPR to RNA-Seq, Here Are Some Bio-Trac Instructors to Know
Since 1985, Bio-Trac has provided invaluable professional development and workforce training programs in the life sciences industry. This week we look at two Bio-Trac instructors fostering continuous learning and advancement in the field.
By Alex Keown | March 27, 2024
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Continuing education plays a vital role in the life sciences sector. Bio-Trac, a professional development and workforce training program situated at Montgomery College’s Bioscience Education Center, hosts esteemed research scientists and experienced instructors who lead various biotechnology training workshops throughout the year.
Director and Co-founder Mark Nardone highlighted that the presence of active research scientists as principal instructors is a crucial element to Bio-Trac’s success.
“Biotech operates in a space that is ever-evolving, in which new technologies and applications are commonplace. Many of the workshop methods/applications Bio-Trac® offers now were not available or even considered five to ten years ago. We keep the research scientist up to date and relevant in these emerging fields and methodologies by offering these timely workshops”.
Bio-Trac was founded in 1985 by Nardone and his father, Dr. Roland M. Nardone, Professor of Biology, Director of the Center for Advanced Training in Cell and Molecular Biology (Catholic University of America). Originally based at the National Institutes of Health (1985-2015), Bio-Trac has conducted over 1200 workshops and has provided hands-on training for more than 19,000 research scientists in a variety of programs and disciplines.
BioBuzz takes a look at some of the Bio-Trac instructors who oversee different course offerings throughout the year.
Dr. Serguei Kozlov
Serguei Kozlov is a Principal Scientist and Preclinical Technology and Optimization Team Leader at the Center for Advanced Preclinical Research, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.
At Bio-Trac, Dr. Kozlov leads three different CRISPR-related workshops for Bio-Trac (Gene Editing with CRISPR; Advanced Topics in CRISPR; and Gene Editing iPSCs with CRISPR/Cas9). These three-day workshops are comprised of a series of lectures, hands-on experimental laboratory activities, and discussions focused on gene editing using CRISPR technology. The program focuses on principles and strategies associated with CRISPR genome editing and will feature “cutting-edge presentations” from experts within the CRISPR/Cas9 field. The next course led by Dr. Kozlov, Gene Editing with CRISPR, will be held on April 3-5, 2024. In the past seven years, Dr. Kozlov’s workshops have trained over 500 research scientists in the field of CRISPR.
Dr. Kozlov’s expertise includes analysis of diverse developmental and oncogenic signaling pathways and their implication for the pathogenic state of adult tissues, as well as molecular mechanisms of gene expression and gene functioning in normal vs. diseased tissues. He also designs genetically and biologically engineered murine models for a variety of diseases, including tissue degenerative syndromes, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, aging, and cancer.
As a postdoctoral fellow and subsequently staff scientist at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Dr. Kozlov oversaw a large-scale effort to assess the role of nuclear-envelope-associated proteins in multiple clinical diseases and identified novel imprinted genes and provided the first evidence connecting imprinted gene expression with circadian regulation. In his current appointment, he leads a team of preclinical researchers focused on early-stage evaluation of promising therapeutic and diagnostic formulations in genetically engineered models of pancreatic malignancies towards accelerating the development of better detection and treatment options for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Allissa Dillman
Dr. Allissa Dillman is the founder and CEO of BioData Sage LLC, a company focused on providing a holistic approach to data science integration in the biomedical and biological science fields. Dr. Dillman offers data science strategic planning, including the usage of appropriate tools, platforms, datasets, and reproducible practices. She also works with clients in industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, creating and supporting training programs on data science, cloud computing, and the tools and standards for reproducible data science practices for scientific and lay communities.
At Bio-Trac, Dr. Dillman will lead an RNA-Seq: Principles, Methods and Computational Analysis Workshop, a five-day workshop. The program will be held July 22-26. It is billed as a combination of lecture and hands-on computer-based laboratory workshop. It’s a program aimed at bench and research scientists who have little or no bioinformatics background and are seeking a comprehensive program focused on the bioinformatics analysis of RNA-Seq. Dr. Dillman is also a principal instructor in R for Research Scientists and scRNA-Seq training workshops.
Dr. Dillman worked at NIH for over 10 years and most recently served as the workforce development and community engagement lead for the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS). She built and executed data science integration programs bringing in undergraduates through mid-level data scientists to tackle NIH’s complex data ecosystem. Dr. Dillman has focused specifically on lowering the barriers of entry for data science and cloud computing by building train-the-trainer programs for STEM educators from low-resourced schools and facilitating data science training programs for students at HBCUs, MSIs, and HSIs. She has coordinated and participated as a judge, mentor, and team lead in over 50 hackathons in academia, industry, government, and nonprofit sectors. Dr. Dillman has contributed to over 50 scientific publications and has a long-standing research interest in using bioinformatic tools and data science techniques to answer a wide variety of biological questions. Dr. Dillman received her Ph.D. in computational neuroscience as part of the graduate partnership program between NIH and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, in 2014.
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Alex Keown is a freelance journalist who writes about a variety of subjects including the pharma, biotech, and life science industries. Prior to freelancing, Alex has served as a staff writer and editor for several publications.
