3. When you should outsource the bioinformatics work

When you are more concerned about having the work done with high quality, at lower cost, and with fast turnaround, rather than training the young people in your team, especially when your project involves some of the more complex and challenging bioinformatics ingredients and/or requires custom development that goes beyond basic bioinformatics work, then the scale tilts towards the outsourcing option.

The bioinformatics work is naturally the most easily outsourced among all components of your research project, because it deals with digital data that can often be transferred back and forth through the internet without anything physical being shipped. This is in sharp contrast to other components of your project that involve biological samples and/or heavy or specialized experimental equipment or devices, which often make the outsourcing option more cumbersome and less appealing.

It may seem counterintuitive that using the help of external bioinformatics experts can actually lead to saving both your time and funding. This topic was discussed in this piece on AccuraScience's website, and I will not delve into it deeply here.