Bioinformatics course timetable

The workshop will cover the basics of de novo genome assembly using a small genome example. This includes project planning steps, selecting fragment sizes, initial assembly of reads into fully covered contigs, and then assembling those contigs into larger scaffolds that may include gaps. The end result will be a set of contigs and scaffolds with sufficient average length to perform further analysis on, including genome annotation (link to that nomination). This workshop will use tools and methods targeted at small genomes. The basics of assembly and scaffolding presented here will be useful for building larger genomes, but the specific tools and much of the project planning will be different.

This workshop will also introduce genome annotation in the context of small genomes. We’ll begin with genome annotation concepts, and then introduce resources and tools for automatically annotating small genomes. The workshop will finish with a review of options for further automatic and manual tuning of the annotation, and for maintaining it as new assemblies or information becomes available.

This session will include an introduction to the Galaxy platform.

This event is co-organized with EMBL-ABR and the Genomics Virtual Lab. Course materials can be found here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course provides a practical introduction to the writing of Python programs for the complete novice. Participants are lead through the core aspects of Python illustrated by a series of example programs. Upon completion of the course, attentive participants will be able to write simple Python programs and customize more complex code to fit their needs.

Course materials are available here.

Please note that the content of this course has recently been updated. This course now mostly focuses on core concepts including Python syntax, data structures and reading/writing files. Functions and modules are now the focus of a new 1-day course, Working with Python: functions and modules.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course provides a practical introduction to the writing of Python programs for the complete novice. Participants are lead through the core aspects of Python illustrated by a series of example programs. Upon completion of the course, attentive participants will be able to write simple Python programs and customize more complex code to fit their needs.

Course materials are available here.

Please note that the content of this course has recently been updated. This course now mostly focuses on core concepts including Python syntax, data structures and reading/writing files. Functions and modules are now the focus of a new 1-day course, Working with Python: functions and modules.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course will cover all aspects of the analysis of DNA methylation using sequencing, including primary analysis, mapping and quality control of BS-Seq data, common pitfalls and complications.

It will also include exploratory analysis of methylation, looking at different methods of quantitation, and a variety of ways of looking more widely at the distribution of methylation over the genome. Finally the course will look at statistical methods to predict differential methylation.

The course will be comprised of a mixture of theoretical lectures and practicals covering a range of different software packages.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

R is a highly-regarded, free, software environment for statistical analysis, with many useful features that promote and facilitate reproducible research.

In this course, we give an introduction to the R environment and explain how it can be used to import, manipulate and analyse tabular data. After the course you should feel confident to start exploring your own dataset using the materials and references provided.

The course website providing links to the course materials is here.

Please note that although we will demonstrate how to perform statistical analysis in R, we will not cover the theory of statistical analysis in this course. Those seeking an in-depth explanation of how to perform and interpret statistical tests are advised to see the list of Related courses. Moreover, those with some programming experience in other languages (e.g. Python, Perl) might wish to attend the follow-on Data Analysis and Visualisation in R course.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

R is a highly-regarded, free, software environment for statistical analysis, with many useful features that promote and facilitate reproducible research.

In this course, we give an introduction to the R environment and explain how it can be used to import, manipulate and analyse tabular data. After the course you should feel confident to start exploring your own dataset using the materials and references provided.

The course website providing links to the course materials is here.

Please note that although we will demonstrate how to perform statistical analysis in R, we will not cover the theory of statistical analysis in this course. Those seeking an in-depth explanation of how to perform and interpret statistical tests are advised to see the list of Related courses. Moreover, those with some programming experience in other languages (e.g. Python, Perl) might wish to attend the follow-on Data Analysis and Visualisation in R course.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

The goal of metabolomics is to identify and quantify the complete biochemical composition of a biological sample. With the increase in genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic information there is a growing need to understand the metabolic phenotype that these genes and proteins ultimately control.

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of metabolomics and its applications in life sciences, clinical and environmental settings. Over 2 days we will introduce different techniques used to extract metabolites and analyse samples to collect metabolomic data (such as HPLC or GC-based MS and NMR), present how to analyse such data, how to identify metabolites using online databases and how to map the metabolomic data to metabolic pathways.

The course content will predominantly be based on analysing samples from model plant species such as Arabidopsis thaliana but the procedures are transferable to all other organisms, including clinical and environmental settings.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

The goal of metabolomics is to identify and quantify the complete biochemical composition of a biological sample. With the increase in genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic information there is a growing need to understand the metabolic phenotype that these genes and proteins ultimately control.

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of metabolomics and its applications in life sciences, clinical and environmental settings. Over 2 days we will introduce different techniques used to extract metabolites and analyse samples to collect metabolomic data (such as HPLC or GC-based MS and NMR), present how to analyse such data, how to identify metabolites using online databases and how to map the metabolomic data to metabolic pathways.

The course content will predominantly be based on analysing samples from model plant species such as Arabidopsis thaliana but the procedures are transferable to all other organisms, including clinical and environmental settings.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course will cover concepts and strategies for working more effectively with Python with the aim of writing reusable code. In the morning session, we will briefly go over the basic syntax, data structures and control statements. This will be followed by an introduction to writing user-defined functions. We will finish the course by looking into how to incorporate existing python modules and packages into your programs as well as writing you own modules.

Course materials can be found here.

Note: this one-day course is the continuation of the Introduction to Solving Biological Problems with Python; participants are expected to have attended the introductory Python course and/or have acquired some working knowledge of Python. This course is also open to Python beginners who are already fluent in other programming languages as this will help them to quickly get started in Python.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

The aim of this course is to familiarize the participants with the primary analysis of datasets generated through two popular high-throughput sequencing (HTS) assays: ChIP-seq and RNA-seq.

This course starts with a brief introduction to the transition from capillary to high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and discusses quality control issues, which are common among all HTS datasets. Next, we will present the alignment step and how it differs between the two analysis workflows. Finally, we focus on dataset specific downstream analysis, including peak calling and motif analysis for ChIP-seq and quantification of expression, transcriptome assembly and differential expression analysis for RNA-seq.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

The aim of this course is to familiarize the participants with the primary analysis of datasets generated through two popular high-throughput sequencing (HTS) assays: ChIP-seq and RNA-seq.

This course starts with a brief introduction to the transition from capillary to high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and discusses quality control issues, which are common among all HTS datasets. Next, we will present the alignment step and how it differs between the two analysis workflows. Finally, we focus on dataset specific downstream analysis, including peak calling and motif analysis for ChIP-seq and quantification of expression, transcriptome assembly and differential expression analysis for RNA-seq.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

This course provides a practical introduction to producing figures for use in reports and publications.

It is a wide ranging course which looks at how to design figures to clearly and fairly represent your data, with the aim of conveying information in an effective manner. It draws on principles of visual design and provides strategies to make informed choices of figure elements and composition, and to facilitate the communication of complex results. The course also covers the practical aspects of compositing and editing of final figures and the allowable manipulation of bitmap images.

The course introduces the use of different open source software packages for editing images to achieve professional quality and is illustrated with example figures adapted from common analysis tools.

Please note: The material provided in this course is partially based on the course Introduction to Scientific Figure Design, provided by Babraham Bioinformatics.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.