U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Course Catalog

Below are topic or subject areas taught by the NIH Library. Click the topic to see a list of upcoming classes or other related content. To view our full training catalog, visit the library training calendar. We are open to your feedback and suggestions related to our training program. Please suggest a class if you do not see it listed.

NIH Library classes are taught in-person in the NIH Library training rooms, Building 10, Clinical Center, near the South Entrance or virtually. In addition to classes, self-paced online tutorials are available through a variety of vendors and our library staff.

 

  • In partnership with the NIH Clinical Center's Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology Service (BCES), the NIH Library is offering a review of core concepts in epidemiology. This session will cover the principles of epidemiology, key concepts and terms, brief review of outbreak investigations and study designs, and commonly used statistics in epidemiology (e.g., morbidity and mortality rates; incidence and prevalence; relative risk; odds ratio; sensitivity and specificity). The instructor will present a set of exercises to work through during the lesson (a calculator will be needed). 

    Training Category: Data Services Classes
  • The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. NHANES is a major program of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This introductory one-hour webinar by Jane Gwira Baumblatt, MD, MPH,  will provide an overview of the content of NHANES and how to access the data. 

    Training Category: Data Services Classes
  • This class will provide a demonstration of different options for cell type classification and treatment group comparisons at different levels with multiple samples of Single Cell RNA-Seq data. A CITE-Seq data will also be used to illustrate how to integrate protein and RNA information. Attendees will also learn how to integrate histology information with gene expression profile using a Spatial transcriptome data set. Partek Flow is a web-based application for the analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) including RNA, small RNA, and DNA sequencing. With an easy-to-use graphical interface and the ability to build custom analysis pipelines, Partek Flow enables users to carry out routine NGS data analysis using dozens of popular algorithms without writing codes or running command lines tools.  Attendees will need to have taken the Partek Flow Basic Components class before registering or be comfortable with Partek Flow.

    By the end of this class, attendees will be able describe how to access Partek Flow from the NIH Library, demonstrate how to combine cell type classification among different samples, perform cell type abundance analysis, identify batch removal options, conduct CITE-seq data and spatial transcriptomics data analysis, and create publication-ready visualization

    Training Category: Bioinformatics Classes
  • Embase is a biomedical and pharmacological database covering international literature from 1947 to present. Embase includes citations and unique indexing for drugs not found in PubMed. This advanced training session will focus on using Embase for general literature searching, and will cover how to use the database’s embedded tools to design advanced queries for systematic reviews and adverse drug reactions. Participants will also learn how to combine queries to increase search precision, and how to use the PICO (population, intervention, comparison, and outcome) and the PV (Pharmacovigilance) wizards.

  • PubMed comprises tens of millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. This class introduces advanced PubMed features that allow for focused searches. Participants will learn how to personalize PubMed using My NCBI, use internal PubMed vocabulary lists (MeSH) to create more efficient search strategies, truncation use, and searching with Boolean operators. Additionally, skills in applying search filters, creating subject alerts, and exporting search results to bibliographic management software such as EndNote will be discussed.

  • This first of five webinars will introduce NIH’s All of Us Research Program, including the program’s mission and core values. Learn about the current size and diversity of the participant cohort and the data types and tools available to researchers. Attendees will also see examples of recent research using the All of Us dataset. 

    Presenter: Sheri Schully, Ph.D., is the deputy chief medical and scientific officer and the lead for ancillary studies in the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health. Through her leadership, she is establishing ancillary studies as a core and scalable capability of the program that will expand the cohort and deliver new phenotypic, lifestyle, environmental, and biological data to the All of Us Researcher Workbench. Dr. Schully has been involved with shaping the program and setting the scientific vision and strategy since its inception. Dr. Schully's research interests include genomics, personalized medicine, and the integration of genetic and genomic information into clinical and public health practices. Her work has been published in numerous high-impact scientific journals.

    This is the first of five sessions about NIH’s All of Us Research Program and Researcher Workbench. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to attend all sessions. Register for additional sessions below: 

    • Session 1 - March 29: Introduction to the All of Us Research Program and Research Hub
    • Session 2 - April 12: All of Us Researcher Workbench Registration
    • Session 3 - April 19: Diving into the Researcher Workbench Data
    • Session 4 - April 26: Introduction to Coding in the Researcher Workbench
    • Session 5 - May 3: Resources to Support Researchers

    *** All of Us Researchers Convention: April 3-4, 2024***
    Researchers are invited to attend the All of Us Researchers Convention, April 3-4. The free, virtual event provides an opportunity for researchers who use All of Us data to showcase their work for others who share their interests in precision medicine. Register for the All of Us Researchers Convention at ResearchAllofUs.org/2024Convention.

  • This session will outline the All of Us Researcher Workbench registration process for NIH researchers. Access to the Researcher Workbench is free, and all registered researchers are provided $300 initial computational credits. Some analyses in the cloud may incur additional costs beyond these credits. Attendees will also learn how to create a Google billing account in case they use up their initial credits. Finally, attendees will hear about funding opportunities that can support using the All of Us dataset. 

    Presenter: Dr. Chris Lord is a project manager at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that primarily assists with research support for the Data and Research Center (DRC), focusing on the User Support Hub, featured workspaces, and creating support materials for users. Additionally, he assists with the Help Desk, office hours, and user communications. Before joining the DRC in 2022, he received his Ph.D. from UCSD in cell biology and then was a postdoctoral fellow and research assistant professor at Vanderbilt University.

    This is the second of five sessions about NIH’s All of Us Research Program and Researcher Workbench. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to attend all sessions. Register for additional sessions below: 

    • Session 1 - March 29: Introduction to the All of Us Research Program and Research Hub
    • Session 2 - April 12: All of Us Researcher Workbench Registration
    • Session 3 - April 19: Diving into the Researcher Workbench Data
    • Session 4 - April 26: Introduction to Coding in the Researcher Workbench
    • Session 5 - May 3: Resources to Support Researchers
  • In this webinar, attendees will learn the basics of using the All of Us Researcher Workbench’s point-and-click research tools, including how to create a workspace, how to build a cohort of All of Us participants using the Cohort Builder, and more. 

    Presenter: Dr. Chris Lord is a project manager at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that primarily assists with research support for the Data and Research Center (DRC), focusing on the User Support Hub, featured workspaces, and creating support materials for users. Additionally, he assists with the Help Desk, office hours, and user communications. Before joining the DRC in 2022, he received his Ph.D. from UCSD in cell biology and then was a postdoctoral fellow and research assistant professor at Vanderbilt University.

    This is the third of five sessions about NIH’s All of Us Research Program and Researcher Workbench. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to attend all sessions. Register for additional sessions below: 

    • Session 1 - March 29: Introduction to the All of Us Research Program and Research Hub
    • Session 2 - April 12: All of Us Researcher Workbench Registration
    • Session 3 - April 19: Diving into the Researcher Workbench Data
    • Session 4 - April 26: Introduction to Coding in the Researcher Workbench
    • Session 5 - May 3: Resources to Support Researchers
  • Webinar attendees will hear tips and tricks to code efficiently in the Researcher Workbench using R and RStudio. Although Python and SAS are alternative programming languages available on the Researcher Workbench, this session will only focus on using R and RStudio. Participants should already have a general understanding of how to code in R prior to attending the session. This session will not cover the basics of coding in R.

    Presenter: Aymone Kouame is a Data Scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She leads the Data Science & Engineering efforts for Digital Health Technologies (Fitbit). She is involved in the back-end and front-end processes of the All of Us Researcher Workbench curated data repository, working closely with the Curation and the Research Support Teams. Aymone discovered her passion for Data Science after a few years working/studying in Business and Accounting. She holds Master Degrees of Science in Data Analytics, Information Systems, and Accounting and Business Management. Before VUMC, she worked on the Data Science team of a cyber security company.

    This is the fourth of five sessions about NIH’s All of Us Research Program and Researcher Workbench. Attendees are encouraged to attend all sessions. Register for additional sessions below: 

    • Session 1 - March 29: Introduction to the All of Us Research Program and Research Hub
    • Session 2 - April 12: All of Us Researcher Workbench Registration
    • Session 3 - April 19: Diving into the Researcher Workbench Data
    • Session 4 - April 26: Introduction to Coding in the Researcher Workbench
    • Session 5 - May 3: Resources to Support Researchers
  • Webinar attendees will learn how to use and navigate the All of Us Researcher Workbench’s User Support Hub, which provides video tutorials, help articles, and more. Attendees will also learn about opportunities to get support from the Researcher Workbench help desk and how to stay involved with the All of Us Research Program through the program’s network of partners. 

    Presenters:

    Rubin Baskir, Ph.D., Researcher Engagement and Outreach Branch Chief, All of Us Research Program
    Rubin Baskir, Ph.D., is a Program Officer and the Researcher Engagement and Outreach Branch Chief within the NIH All of Us Research Program engagement team. He is excited to be working with a team that helps maintain the essential relationship between the program, participants, and community partners.  Prior to his current position, Baskir began working in the All of Us Research Program as part of an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) science and technology policy fellowship. His interest in health policy began during his graduate work at Vanderbilt University, where, in addition to researching mechanisms of disease and signal transduction, he gained an appreciation for the effects of policy on human health. Baskir received his doctorate in clinical and cellular biology from Vanderbilt University and his Bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis.

    Sydney McMaster, CHES, Program Officer, All of Us Research Program
    As a passionate health equity advocate, Sydney McMaster has served as a Program Officer and Researcher Engagement Specialist for the NIH All of Us Research Program for over two years. In this role, she functions as a liaison between the researcher community and the national program, offering support and technical assistance to researchers interested in studying the program’s dataset. Prior to this role, Sydney served as a Public Health Analyst with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for three years. As a previous participant in a pathways internship program with HRSA, Sydney is passionate about supporting equitable pathways for diverse professionals interested in research and public health careers. 

    This is the fifth of five sessions about NIH’s All of Us Research Program and Researcher Workbench. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to attend all sessions. Register for additional sessions below: 

    • Session 1 - March 29: Introduction to the All of Us Research Program and Research Hub
    • Session 2 - April 12: All of Us Researcher Workbench Registration
    • Session 3 - April 19: Diving into the Researcher Workbench Data
    • Session 4 - April 26: Introduction to Coding in the Researcher Workbench
    • Session 5 - May 3: Resources to Support Researchers
  • Animal models are used to study the development and progression of diseases and to test new treatments. Model organisms are a subset of research organisms that serve as a proxy for understanding human biology. This introductory class will cover techniques on locating biomedical research articles, patents, NIH-funded research projects, genetic information, and print and electronic books related to animal models and model organisms. The class will also discuss the differences between animal models, research organisms, and model organisms, and will review requirements and resources for the NIH Model Organism Sharing Policy.

  • VSClinical is designed for researchers to efficiently process the clinical interpretation of cell variants based on Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) and American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines. This class will demonstrate how VSClinical enables labs to test for both germline and somatic cell variants according to the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) and AMP guidelines in an automated fashion. With the VSClinical interpretation hub, participants will learn how to produce customized reports, use lab knowledge databases to streamline variant classifications, and evaluate somatic and germline cell variants.

    Training Category: Bioinformatics Classes
  • This class will provide a demonstration of how to identify cell types based on statistics, visualization, and canonical markers. One Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) sample will be used to illustrate a basic Single Cell RNA-Seq analysis pipeline. Partek Flow is a web-based application for the analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) including RNA, small RNA, and DNA sequencing. With an easy-to-use graphical interface and the ability to build custom analysis pipelines, Partek Flow enables users to carry out routine NGS data analysis using dozens of popular algorithms without writing codes or running command lines tools.  Attendees will need to have taken the Partek Flow Basic Components class before registering or be comfortable with Partek Flow.

    By the end of this class, attendees will be able describe how to access Partek Flow from the NIH Library, discuss the Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) tools, identify pre- and post-alignment tools, describe options for quantification and normalization, and perform pathway analysis and visualization.

    Training Category: Bioinformatics Classes
  • This class focuses on structuring spreadsheet data so that it is ready for data analysis, or for importing into R or Python. By the end of this class, students should be able to: describe best practices for data entry, and formatting data in spreadsheets; list common formatting mistakes; describe different approaches for handling dates in spreadsheets; identify tips for quality control and data manipulation in spreadsheets; exporting data from spreadsheets.

    Training Category: Data Services Classes
  • Biosketches are used more and more in NIH internal reports. Participants will learn how to create a Biosketch with efficiency. Participants will also learn the appropriate components needed to put their best foot forward.

    Training Category: Writing and Editing Classes
  • Learn how to use the Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) to streamline the task of gathering and reporting active protocol data. BTRIS staff will demonstrate how to run queries in BTRIS and then guide attendees through running reports for their protocols.

    Class Prerequisites:
    You must have an established BTRIS user account for access to identified data. These accounts are given to all Principal Investigators or with permission to their designees. If you do not have an account, please complete the BTRIS Access form.

    For additional information on these sessions, go to the BTRIS webpage.

    Training Category: BTRIS Classes
  • This class will provide a demonstration of how to build a Bulk RNA-Seq data analysis pipeline using a fastq file. Partek Flow is a web-based application for the analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) including RNA, small RNA, and DNA sequencing.  With an easy-to-use graphical interface and the ability to build custom analysis pipelines, Partek Flow enables users to carry out routine NGS data analysis using dozens of popular algorithms without writing codes or running command lines tools.  Attendees will need to have taken the Partek Flow Basic Components class before registering or be comfortable with Partek Flow.

    By the end of this class, attendees will be able describe how to access Partek Flow from the NIH Library, discuss the Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) tools, identify pre- and post-alignment tools, describe options for quantification and normalization, and perform pathway analysis and visualization.

    Training Category: Bioinformatics Classes
  • Galaxy is a scientific workflow, data integration, data analysis, and publishing platform that makes computational biology accessible to research scientists that do not have computer programming experience. This training will introduce ChIP sequencing data analysis followed by a tutorial showing ChIP-seq analysis workflow.  This workshop will be taught by NCI staff and is open to NIH and HHS staff.

    This class is a mixture of lecture and hands-on exercises. By the end of this class, students will be able to: independently run basic ChIP-seq analysis for peak calling, run quality control on ChIP-seq data, map raw reads to a reference genome, generate alignment statistics and check mapping quality, call peaks using MACS, annotate peaks, and visualize the enriched regions.

    Training Category: Bioinformatics Classes
  • Choosing a quality journal to publish in can be a daunting task. In this class, participants will become familiar with the available resources and tools to assist in targeting quality journals, as well as ways to recognize questionable or predatory journals. Additional topics include tips to avoid a predatory conference, evaluating invitations to serve as a peer review or editorial board member, preprint servers, and what to do if you published with a questionable journal will be covered.

    Training Category: Writing and Editing Classes
  • This class will give you an in-depth look at tools for evidence-based clinical information.  Explore our available resources and learn search tips for DynaMed (clinical decision support tool), Access Medicine (decision making tool), Cochrane (evidence to inform healthcare decisions), EBMcal (clinical criteria sets and decision tree analysis tools), and PubMed shortcuts to evidence based clinical information. Learning Objectives: become familiar with the NIH Library’s clinical resource tools and know how to use them; and do better, more efficient searching using clinical resource tools.