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Short Course in Genomics

The NHGRI Short Course in Genomics offers science educators the opportunity to hear lectures and receive teaching resources from leading researchers, clinicians and staff. Topics include complex diseases, sequencing technologies, brain and behavior, bioinformatics, gene editing, the human microbiome and ethical issues in genomics research.

The Education and Community Involvement (ECIB) Branch within NHGRI is offering its annual Short Course in Genomics from July 28, 2025 - August 1, 2025.

Overview

This course is designed to support middle and high school teachers, and community college faculty teaching science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) courses at institutions with a documented record or mission of recruiting, educating and graduating students from backgrounds underrepresented in the scientific workforce and that have not received significant recent funding from NIH.

The course will include lectures and discussions with experts, hands-on activities and demonstrations, wet-lab and computational activities, and networking opportunities aimed at helping educators enhance genomics in their teaching practice. Alumni from the short course are encouraged to continue working with NHGRI staff and other alumni to develop new curricular resources and teaching tools in the future.

View the agenda from 2024

 

 

The 2025 Short Course in Genomics course will be in person at the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Please indicate in your application whether you would require travel assistance (airfare, lodging, etc.) to participate fully. Travel support may or may not be provided as budget allows.

Participants are expected to attend the full course. Spots are limited, so please be considerate of others and do not apply if you unable to commit to the full course. 

To apply for this course, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

How to Apply

Applications will open in January 2025.

Candidates will be asked to respond to the following questions in the online application.
 

  • How long have you been teaching? 
    (50-word limit)
     
  • What subjects/courses are you currently teaching? If you are not teaching genetics/genomics courses now, will you in the future? 
    (200-word limit)
     
  • How would attending the NHGRI Short Course in Genomics benefit you? 
    (200-word limit)
     
  • How would your school or community benefit from your participation? Please include any qualitative descriptions and/or statistics about your school and/or student demographics; for example, percentage of first-generation college students, percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunch, etc. 
    (200-word limit)
     
  • How would you incorporate new information about genomics and genetics in your curriculum? 
    (200-word limit)
     
  • Please describe any experience you have designing and implementing new curriculum or professional development experiences for other educators and/or disseminating educational resources through professional networks. If you have not yet had any of these experiences, how would you do this in the future? 
    (200-word limit)
     
  • Please provide a short narrative biography.
    (200-word limit)
     

Please contact us with any questions at nhgrishortcourse@mail.nih.gov

Video Kit

In this video, Belen Hurle, Ph.D., education outreach specialist in NHGRI's Education and Community Involvement Branch, illustrates how to assemble a paper-based CRISPR-Cas9 kit for a hands-on CRISPR technology demonstration. Model is adapted from Origami Organelles™ CRISPR 00-031, ©2017 Discovering DNA Ltd.

Microbiome Lesson Plans

The microbiome lesson plans - consisting of four modules - were inspired by lectures and resources on the microbiome offered at NHGRI's Short Course in Genomics. 

View Lesson Plans
Gut bacteria

Contacts

Christopher Williams
Christopher Williams, Ph.D.
  • Deputy Chief
  • Education and Community Involvement Branch
Rosann N. Wise, M.A.
Rosann N. Wise, M.A.
  • Program Analyst
  • Division of Policy, Communications, and Education

Questions or Comments?

Please contact us with any questions at NHGRIShortCourse@mail.nih.gov.

 

Last updated: October 25, 2024