Case Study: University of Toronto accelerates bioinformatics learning and reduces setup headaches with RStudio Server Pro

University of Toronto - Customer Case Study

RStudio worked with the University of Toronto to support two Coursera bioinformatics MOOCs that teach RNA‑seq analysis. The original course required students to install R and Bioconductor on their own machines, which led to widespread installation problems across different operating systems and package dependencies that impeded learning.

The instructors deployed RStudio Server Pro on AWS (c4.large VMs running multiple RStudio Server Pro instances with LDAP authentication) to provide web‑accessible Bioconductor environments with individual workspaces and shared data folders. This cloud solution eliminated most setup issues, reduced forum complaints and lab administration headaches, allowed course materials to be reused in on‑campus classes, and supported large-scale enrollment (about 34,000 students in the second course).

University of Toronto

Nicholas Provart

Professor, Plant Cyberinfrastructure & Systems Biology