Speaker: Rebecca Wattam
Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
Bio: Rebecca Wattam, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia and Outreach Lead for the Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC). Her work focuses on developing and delivering accessible bioinformatics resources for the study of infectious diseases, with particular emphasis on antimicrobial resistance and comparative genomics. She has led more than 80 hands-on workshops worldwide and is the creator of the Coursera course Bacterial Bioinformatics, which has reached tens of thousands of learners. Dr. Wattam is dedicated to expanding access to data, tools, and training to enable researchers and students to analyze microbial genomes and understand pathogen biology.
Abstract: The Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC; https://www.bv-brc.org) is a comprehensive resource supporting research on bacterial and viral pathogens. Hosting >1.2 million bacterial genomes, 30 000 archaeal genomes, 12.8 million viral genomes (including 26 000 bacteriophage genomes), and 10 eukaryotic host genomes, it offers computationally intensive bioinformatic services; interactive visual analytics tools; secure private workspaces for data management, sharing, and publication; open APIs and a command line interface for accessing the data and services; and an extensive library of training materials. It supports a growing community of over 77,000 registered users who submit over 20 000 analysis jobs each month.