Bioinformatics.Org Courses for December

[Prash]

Here are the courses running this month at Bioinformatics.Org:

CS101 Introduction to Bioinformatics Programming; Course GTG (online), December 8-12, 2008, 15:30-17:30 GMT daily

This course teaches biologists how to use programming as a way to automate biological data analysis and develop algorithms or workflows, and how to manage vast amounts of data using database technologies. Data could be DNA or amino acid sequences, microarray data, images, mass spectrometry data, LIMS data, or any other kind of biological information. Perl programming and database management will be covered. (This course is a combination of CS101A Perl for Biologists, Level 1 and CS101C MySQL for Biologists, Level 1.)

 http://wiki.bioinformatics.org/CS101_Introduction_to_Bioinformatics_Programming

BI201A Gene Expression Analysis; Course GTT (online), December 15-19, 2008, 15:30-17:30 GMT daily

This course helps to demystify Affymetrix analysis so that any researcher can take the basic steps to go from a chip image to a list of genes that are up- or down-regulated in an experiment. Various tools will be covered, e.g. Affymetrix Expression Console (replacing GCOS), Microsoft Excel, MathWorks MATLAB, and free tools like R/Bioconductor and dChip. It is geared towards researchers who conduct microarray experiments to study genome-wide expression changes and understand the underlying mechanisms of gene regulation in samples of interest.

Most scientists are not able to analyze the resulting data themselves, and they are not able to get desired results using traditional tools like Microsoft Word and Excel or with advanced software provided by commercial vendors. The freeware solutions come either with a steep learning curve or as black-box interfaces that provide limited functionality with little or no technical support. In the midst of all this is the fundamental lack of understanding among scientists on how the technology works and what the fundamental parts of the analysis are.

 http://wiki.bioinformatics.org/BI201A_Gene_Expression_Analysis

Online courses at Bioinformatics.Org offer several advantages to scientists over books and self-paced learning:

- In-depth courses with innovative, easy-to-understand materials (slides, scripts and datasets)

- Live instruction is done online via streaming multimedia with shorter, distributed sessions and plenty of time for assignments.

- Opportunities to ask questions and seek clarification

- Recorded videos of lectures and materials, which are available indefinitely for attendees

- Discussion forums for students and instructors to share expertise and information

Discounts are available for those in non-profit organizations and those who are unemployed.  Please check the description pages for details.

Thank you, and please forward this information to others who may find this useful.

Prashanth Suravajhala (PhD fellow)
CDAC, Pune, India
http://wiki.bioinformatics.org/Prash

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