  Life science and statistics have necessarily become essential partners. The
need to plan complex, structured experiments, involving elaborated designs, and
the need to analyse datasets in the era of systems biology and high throughput
technologies has to build upon professional statistical expertise. On the other
hand, conducting such analyses and also developing improved or new methods,
also for novel kinds of data, has to build upon solid biological understanding
and practise. However, the meeting of scientists of both fields is often
hampered by a variety of communicative hurdles - which are based on
field-specific working languages and cultural differences.
  As a step towards a better mutual understanding, we developed a workshop
concept bringing together young experimental biologists and statisticians, to
work as pairs and learn to value each others competences and practise
interdisciplinary communication in a casual atmosphere. The first
implementation of our concept was a cooperation of the German Region of the
International Biometrical Society and the Leibnitz Institute DSMZ-German
Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (short: DSMZ), Braunschweig,
Germany. We collected feedback in form of three questionnaires, oral comments,
and gathered experiences for the improvement of this concept. The long-term
challenge for both disciplines is the establishment of systematic schedules and
strategic partnerships which use the proposed workshop concept to foster mutual
understanding, to seed the necessary interdisciplinary cooperation network, and
to start training the indispensable communication skills at the earliest
possible phase of education.
