Dr. Kim Mix and collaborator Elia Brodsky from Pine Biotech presented a talk entitled, “A collaborative model for bioinformatics education:  combining biologically inspired bioinformatics with project-based learning” at the6^th Annual Louisiana Conference on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics held on April 6-7, 2018 at the LSU Digital Media Center in Baton Rouge.  The conference, an affiliate of the International Society for Computational Biology, provided a platform for exchange among Louisiana-based scientists engaged in bioinformatics research.   Senior Tala Maalouli (Biology and Computer Science double major) attended the conference and explored opportunities in this rapidly expanding field.  In her presentation, Dr. Mix shared her experiences developing and implementing a new project-based bioinformatics course at Loyola this semester.  Students in the course are gaining expertise with cutting-edge methods to analyze genomics and transcriptomics data.  Team research projects exploring patient derived xenograft (PDX) models, immune responses in cancer, and precision medicine will be presented in a public poster session in Monroe Hall on May 3.