Advancing Bioinformatics Capacity through Nextflow and nf-core: Lessons from an Early-to Mid-Career Researchers-Focused Program at The Kids Research Institute Australia.Golden rules for building sustainable bioinformatics capacity using Nextflow and nf-core with a focus on earlymid career researchers: The Kids Research Institute Australia, case report

Patricia Agudelo-Romero^1,2,3*Talya Conradie¹Jose Antonio Caparros-Martin^1,4,5David Jimmy Martino¹Anthony Kicic^1,6,7Stephen Michael Stick^7,8Christopher Hakkaart⁹Abhinav Sharma¹⁰

• ¹Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia
• ²Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
• ³European Virus Bioinformatics Center, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
• ⁴Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
• ⁵School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
• ⁶School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
• ⁷Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
• ⁸Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Perth Children's Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
• ⁹Seqera Labs, Barcelona, Spain
• ¹⁰DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

The increasing adoption of high-throughput "omics" technologies has heightened the demand for standardized, scalable, and reproducible bioinformatics workflows. Nextflow and nf-core provide a robust framework for researchers, particularly early-and mid-career researchers (EMCRs), to navigate complex data analysis. At The Kids Research Institute Australia, we implemented a structured approach to bioinformatics capacity building using these tools. This perspective presents nine practical "golden" rules derived from lessons learnt, that which facilitated the successful adoption of Nextflow and nf-core, addressing implementation challenges, knowledge gaps, resource allocation, and community support. Our experience serves as a guide for institutions aiming to establish sustainable bioinformatics capabilities and empower EMCRs.