In Silico Based Bioinformatics Project during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period : An Alternative to Wet Lab Study

In the weeks and months following the COVID outbreak, millions of students around the world are forced to switch over from traditional classroom learning to online learning. This unprecedented move had tremendous impact on the mode of learning project based courses. In particular, the field of biological science project based courses which require the students and faculty to work in the laboratory was impacted. 5 students and a faculty from Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education used modern in silico tools, databases and software to study a biological problem related to antibiotic resistance in a bacterium called Enterobacter hormaechei subsp. hoffmannii OIPH-N069. The students used freely available modern bioinformatics tools, databases and software such as NCBI, PROTPARAM, SOPMA, BLAST, CLUSTAL OMEGA, CDD, SWISS-MODEL server, PATCHDOCK, PYMOL and CARD to carry out the research work. This method of doing the project has resulted in the phase I completion of the project course successfully. This methodology of usage of freely available tools, databases and software will help students worldwide to pursue the project based biology courses successfully. The significance of this study is the capability of students in completion of the biology project with the usage of only computer and internet and not to depend upon expensive wet lab study.