I've been involved in research, consultancy and training for a while, most of which is documented via LinkedIn or ORCID above - or through specific skills & training projects below.
I provide expert bioinformatics and data analytics support to biotech, pharma and FMCG clients through APEXOMIC (formally Applied Exomic - Founded in 2012). I have a research background spanning wet-lab and bioinformatics, with particular expertise in functional genetics, biomolecular modelling and data integration for immunology and oncology. After spending 10 years in academia conducting collaborative industry research projects, I have spent the last decade supporting in silico target discovery and (bio)therapeutic development in industry.
I also have broad experience of teaching and training in bioinformatics, including development of training strategy. I led development of the UK Level 7 Bioinformatics Scientist Apprenticeship standard and acted as Higher Education Consultant to the UK Science Industry Partnership. I continue to support skills projects in industry, academia and national institutes, including as an invited organiser of the joint EMBL EBI & Wellcome Trust bioinformatics international summer school, and lead on bioinformatics apprenticeship assessment with the NHS/HEE National School of Health Care Science.
For a current professional view, visit my bioinformatics R&D company www.apexomic.com based at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Gunnels Wood Rd, Stevenage UK.
If you are interested in Data Analytics and Digital Skills, visit my new consultancy www.hogsdenconsultants.com - which is (slowly) absorbing my previous skills and workforce development business www.nexastem.com
I am also building a new European (ad)venture based in Estonia: www.amphimatic.com
Some skills and training projects I have worked on
bioinformatics training
I provide classroom teaching and training on courses run by the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute. These include "Introduction to multiomics data integration", "Data resources and bioinformatics tools for immunologists", "Bioinformatics for Principal Investigators", the BioEXCEL "Foundation skills for HPC" summer school and co-organising (and mentoring on) the joint EMBL-EBI/Wellcome Trust "Summer School in Bioinformatics". (View upcoming EMBL-EBI training here)
bioinformatics (level 7) apprenticeship
Working with Cogent Skills, I coordinated the development of the Level 7 Bioinformatics Scientist degree apprenticeship standard. The trailblazer group comprised Unilever, GSK, Medimmune, Astrazeneca, Fujifilm Diosynth, Eagle Genomics, Covance, Envigo, UCB, Kymab, EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, The MRC, Genomics England, the ABPI, and the Royal Society of Biology. View the Bioinformatics Scientist standard here.
bioinformatics apprenticeship assessment
Working with the NHS Health Education England National School of Healthcare Science, we have established the NSHCS as the End-Point Assessment Organisation for the level 7 bioinformatics apprenticeship. As part of this effort, I helped with the development of the assessment process and now act as the lead assessor for bioinformatics apprentices across the UK.
bioinformatics: MSc & apprenticeships
Since leaving Cranfield, I continued to support Masters-level bioinformatics education at both Cranfield University and the University of West London - providing subject matter expertise, input on course/content development and carrying out classroom teaching. Links to the course pages are below - including the new Cranfield bioinformatics apprenticeship programmes.
national occupational standards
Working with Cogent Skills, I coordinated the development of UK National Occupational Standards for job roles in Health Economics and Bioinformatics.Links to the subject-specific units from the NOS suites are below.
supporting industry strategy
I have supported Cogent Skills and the Science Industry Partnership, as a Higher Education Consultant. The activity helped their work to address higher level skills and training gaps in the life science and industrial sciences workforce by supporting ongoing work in industrial placements, degree programmes, working with accreditation bodies, and particularly development of higher level Apprenticeships and National Occupational Standards.
learning & choosing statistics
Learning to use statistics properly, or even choosing the right approach when designing experiments remains a challenge for many. As part of the StaTS project, I maintain a site to help you take the next steps to improving your statistics skills by providing a signpost to information, resources and training opportunities. Key to this is our decision making tool, designed to help you think about the data you intend to collect from your experiments, and guide you on the selection of statistics approaches suitable for its analysis. (Try it by clicking here - or the logo)
supporting Python learning
The popularity of Python means that many are trying to learn, either as a first programming language, or from experience of other coding languages. I have built the Python Code Generator (pycogen) - a visual tool to quickly generate a Python program by dragging blocks together and see the Python code being built. Whether you are new to programming and Python, helping a learner, or just in need of a visual cheatsheet to support your existing Python skills, try pycogen by clicking here - or the logo.
structural bioinformatics
As part of a national training needs review carried out by ELIXIR UK, a need for more scientific training was identified in the area of structural bioinformatics. I worked with key groups in the structural bioinformatics community to develop workflow-based training materials. These are particularly designed to aid biological scientists to make use of computational approaches for the functional exploration of protein structure. Try the workflows using the links below:
