Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast

Podcast 07: Insights into Training and Engagement with CFDE Data

Description

In this episode, Allissa Dillman chats with Kelli Bursey about the current state of training and mentoring within the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE), and Diane Krause about academic engagement with CFDE datasets. This information was gathered by the Training Center as part of a mixed-methods landscape analysis used to identify necessary CFDE data science skills for CFDE learners, describe the existing CFDE training landscape, and identify needed training activities and resources for CFDE learners and stakeholders.

Guests

Kelli Bursey, MPH, CHES | Evaluation Lead

Diane Krause, MS-MPH, CPH, RDN | Evaluation Analyst

Guest Bio

Kelli Bursey has over 15 years of experience at ORAU as a mixed-method researcher, evaluator, and project manager. She actively contributes to a diverse range of evaluation, health communication, and formative research projects for government agencies and private sector clients, providing strategic insights and expertise to drive project success. Ms. Bursey has served over 12 years on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and currently serves as the Chair for Oak Ridge Sitewide Institutional Review Board, and is well-versed in federal regulations for the protection of human subjects. She holds a certificate of proficiency in qualitative research and brings strong skills in both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Diane Krause, MS-MPH, CPH, RDN, has over 15 years of experience in health communication at ORAU, specializing in media monitoring, social media listening, and information analysis. She contributed to a landscape analysis for the CFDE Training Center, where she analyzed scholarly output related to CFDE datasets and online discussions of related technical topics.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Host Bio

Allissa Dillman, PhD, Training and Engagement Director for the CFDE Training Center, 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. She works with clients in industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector to create and support training programs on bioinformatics, cloud computing, and the tools and standards for reproducible data science practices for scientific and lay communities. She also creates community events, such as hackathons, where broad communities work towards solving real biomedical data challenges. Dr. Dillman is a member of the adjunct faculty at Montgomery College and has over 10 years of experience working for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her work focuses on lowering the barriers of entry for data science and cloud computing. She received her PhD in computational neuroscience as part of the graduate partnership program between NIH and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Why Listen?

Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast is more than just a podcast; it's a community for anyone passionate about the potential of omics research to solve complex biological puzzles and address pressing health challenges. Whether you're a seasoned researcher, a student just starting out, or simply curious about the future of biology, this podcast offers valuable insights, inspiring stories, and practical advice to guide your journey through the world of omics research training and education.

Availability

Find Decoding the Data Ecosystem on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. Subscribe today to stay updated with the latest episodes and join the conversation shaping the future of omics research training and education. This podcast is hosted by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Learn more at orau.org.

Links

• Contact the CFDE Training Center

Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast

Podcast 06: Integrating Biomedical Knowledge at Scale with Petagraph

Description

In this episode, Allissa Dillman and Ben Stear discuss knowledge graphs and why they are useful. Tune in as they explore how these tools integrate vast and diverse datasets into unified, queryable networks that support discovery and predictive modeling. Ben shares how knowledge graphs like Petagraph are advancing FAIR data principles, enabling new research insights, and laying the foundation for future integration with large language models.

More information on Petagraph can be found on the project GitHub or in the recently published article: Petagraph: a large-scale unifying knowledge graph framework for integrating biomolecular and biomedical data.

Guest Bio

Ben Stear is a bioinformatics scientist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His recent work has focused on large data integration and analysis using graphs. He is also working on a PhD at Drexel University focusing on how to detect pleiotropy using graph machine learning and graph analysis.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Host Bio

Allissa Dillman, PhD, Training and Engagement Director for the CFDE Training Center, 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. She works with clients in industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector to create and support training programs on bioinformatics, cloud computing, and the tools and standards for reproducible data science practices for scientific and lay communities. She also creates community events, such as hackathons, where broad communities work towards solving real biomedical data challenges. Dr. Dillman is a member of the adjunct faculty at Montgomery College and has over 10 years of experience working for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her work focuses on lowering the barriers of entry for data science and cloud computing. She received her PhD in computational neuroscience as part of the graduate partnership program between NIH and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Why Listen?

Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast is more than just a podcast; it's a community for anyone passionate about the potential of omics research to solve complex biological puzzles and address pressing health challenges. Whether you're a seasoned researcher, a student just starting out, or simply curious about the future of biology, this podcast offers valuable insights, inspiring stories, and practical advice to guide your journey through the world of omics research training and education.

Availability

Find Decoding the Data Ecosystem on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. Subscribe today to stay updated with the latest episodes and join the conversation shaping the future of omics research training and education. This podcast is hosted by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Learn more at orau.org.

Links

• Contact the CFDE Training Center

Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast

Podcast 05: Bio-IT World Hackathon Final Presentations

Description

The CFDE Training Center was a sponsor of the Bio-IT World Hackathon, held April 1 – 2, 2025. The event was facilitated by Dr. Allissa Dillman from CFDE Training Center. The event focused on Open Source and FAIR Data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles, and an emphasis was placed on projects leveraging omics data and integrating CFDE tools, with a goal of improving interoperability across datasets to accelerate discoveries.

Data scientists, developers, and life science professionals collaborated on five projects to tackle real-world challenges using data from GlyGen, IDG, HuBMAP, MoTrPAC, and tools from CFDE.

This episode will consist of clips from various presentations from the hackathon.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Host Bio

Allissa Dillman, PhD, Training and Engagement Director for the CFDE Training Center, 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. She works with clients in industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector to create and support training programs on bioinformatics, cloud computing, and the tools and standards for reproducible data science practices for scientific and lay communities. She also creates community events, such as hackathons, where broad communities work towards solving real biomedical data challenges. Dr. Dillman is a member of the adjunct faculty at Montgomery College and has over 10 years of experience working for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her work focuses on lowering the barriers of entry for data science and cloud computing. She received her PhD in computational neuroscience as part of the graduate partnership program between NIH and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Why Listen?

Decoding the Data Ecosystem: A CFDE Training Center Podcast is more than just a podcast; it's a community for anyone passionate about the potential of omics research to solve complex biological puzzles and address pressing health challenges. Whether you're a seasoned researcher, a student just starting out, or simply curious about the future of biology, this podcast offers valuable insights, inspiring stories, and practical advice to guide your journey through the world of omics research training and education.

Availability

Find Decoding the Data Ecosystem on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more. Subscribe today to stay updated with the latest episodes and join the conversation shaping the future of omics research training and education. This podcast is hosted by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Learn more at orau.org.

Links

• Contact the CFDE Training Center