Elixir Bioinformatics Step by Step

The five-day summer school titled “ELIXIR Bioinformatics Step by Step” has begun at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Pécs. During the practice-oriented training, which runs from June 8 to 12, 2026, students, researchers, and instructors can learn state-of-the-art, practical bioinformatics methods. The professional program is led by Dr. István Albert, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. 

The course is organised by dr. Balázs Győrffy, director of the Institute for Transdisciplinary Research at the University of Pécs Faculty of Medicine, while the professional program is led by dr. István Albert, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, who, as one of the pioneers of the field, has developed several data processing software tools. During the training, participants will learn about RNA-seq analysis, variant identification, data visualisation, and the use of modern bioinformatics tools, among other topics. 

At the opening ceremony, dr. Balázs Győrffy emphasised that ELIXIR is one of Europe’s most significant research infrastructures in the field of life sciences. The European network is built on the collaboration of numerous countries and research institutes, and in Hungary, a wide range of universities and research institutes participate in its work. ELIXIR not only supports research collaborations but also plays a key role in the development of bioinformatics tools, databases, and educational programs. 

The institute director highlighted that coordinating bioinformatics education is one of ELIXIR’s key objectives. For years, the University of Pécs has offered courses that combine the fields of genomics, transcriptomics, and data analysis to provide participants with practical knowledge. The current summer course is an intensive, internationally oriented component of this training system, in which not only students and researchers from the University of Pécs but also from numerous other Hungarian universities are participating; they will receive a certificate at the end of the week. 

In his lecture, dr. István Albert discussed how bioinformatics education must now be application-oriented. In his view, the rapid development of artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming scientific work and learning processes, which is why training programs must increasingly focus on problem-solving and the development of practical skills. 

The professor also presented his educational philosophy, according to which participants immediately apply their new knowledge through practical exercises following brief theoretical introductions. During the course, students perform bioinformatics analyses step by step while also becoming familiar with software environments widely used in modern research. 

Throughout his scientific career, the expert has participated in several major international developments; his work is linked, among other things, to the globally used Galaxy platform, which enables researchers to perform complex bioinformatics analyses even without a programming background. 

The goal of the five-day summer school is for participants to gain knowledge that they can directly apply to their own research projects and that can contribute to the further development of the domestic bioinformatics community.  

Article: Martina Aknai-Kiss
Photos: Szabolcs Csortos