BOL: Related items

Surrogate Variable Analysis (SVA)

Jit — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:01:58 -0500

The sva package contains functions for removing batch effects and other unwanted variation in high-throughput experiment. Specifically, the sva package contains functions for the identifying and building surrogate variables for high-dimensional data sets. Surrogate variables are covariates constructed directly from high-dimensional data (like gene expression/RNA sequencing/methylation/brain imaging data) that can be used in subsequent analyses to adjust for unknown, unmodeled, or latent sources of noise. The sva package can be used to remove artifacts in three ways:

(1) identifying and estimating surrogate variables for unknown sources of variation in high-throughput experiments (Leek and Storey 2007 PLoS Genetics,2008 PNAS),

(2) directly removing known batch effects using ComBat (Johnson et al. 2007 Biostatistics) and

(3) removing batch effects with known control probes (Leek 2014 biorXiv).

Removing batch effects and using surrogate variables in differential expression analysis have been shown to reduce dependence, stabilize error rate estimates, and improve reproducibility, see (Leek and Storey 2007 PLoS Genetics, 2008 PNAS or Leek et al. 2011 Nat. Reviews Genetics).

More at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/sva.html

Rcorrector: efficient and accurate error correction for Illumina RNA-seq reads

BioStar — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 23:23:16 -0600

Rcorrector has an accuracy higher than or comparable to existing methods, including the only other method (SEECER) designed for RNA-seq reads, and is more time and memory efficient. With a 5 GB memory footprint for 100 million reads, it can be run on virtually any desktop or server. The software is available free of charge under the GNU General Public License from https://github.com/mourisl/Rcorrector/.

Usage: perl run_rcorrector.pl [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
	Required
	-s seq_files: comma separated files for single-end data sets
	-1 seq_files_left: comma separated files for the first mate in the paried-end data sets
	-2 seq_files_right: comma separated files for the second mate in the paired-end data sets
	-i seq_files_interleaved: comma sperated files for interleaved paired-end data sets
	Optional
	-k INT: kmer_length (<=32, default: 23)
	-od STRING: output_file_directory (default: ./)
	-t INT: number of threads to use (default: 1)
	-trim : allow trimming (default: false)
	-maxcorK INT: the maximum number of correction within k-bp window (default: 4)
	-wk FLOAT: the proportion of kmers that are used to estimate weak kmer count threshold, lower for more divergent genome (default: 0.95)
	-ek INT: expected number of kmers; does not affect the correctness of program but affects the memory usage (default: 100000000)
	-stdout: output the corrected reads to stdout (default: not used)
	-verbose: output some correction information to stdout (default: not used)
	-stage INT: start from which stage (default: 0)
		0-start from begining(storing kmers in bloom filter) ;
		1-start from count kmers showed up in bloom filter;
		2-start from dumping kmer counts into a jf_dump file;
		3-start from error correction.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/mourisl/Rcorrector/

Encode sequencing data freely available to download and use for academic means

Rahul Agarwal — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 18:18:08 -0500

In Encode, regulatory elements investigated via DNA hypersensitivity assays, assays of DNA methylation, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) of proteins that interact with DNA, including modified histones and transcription factors, followed by sequencing (ChIP-Seq).

More information:

https://genome.ucsc.edu/ENCODE/pilot.html

Address of the bookmark: https://genome.ucsc.edu/ENCODE/

Integrative RNA and ChIP-Seq analysis of regulatory T-cells

Strand — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 05:03:19 -0500

Integrative RNA and ChIP-Seq analysis of regulatory T-cells , a Strand NGS application note describes how integrated multi-omics functionality in Strand NGS was used to find the regulatory role of FoxP3 in T-regulatory and T-helper cells. Learn how the gene expression profiles from RNA-Seq and FoxP3 DNA-protein binding sites from ChIP-Seq are integrated. For mor information, please write to us

kallisto: a program for quantifying abundances of transcripts from bulk and single-cell RNA-Seq data

Jit — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 10:35:14 -0600

kallisto is a program for quantifying abundances of transcripts from bulk and single-cell RNA-Seq data, or more generally of target sequences using high-throughput sequencing reads. It is based on the novel idea of pseudoalignment for rapidly determining the compatibility of reads with targets, without the need for alignment. On benchmarks with standard RNA-Seq data, kallisto can quantify 30 million human reads in less than 3 minutes on a Mac desktop computer using only the read sequences and a transcriptome index that itself takes less than 10 minutes to build. Pseudoalignment of reads preserves the key information needed for quantification, and kallisto is therefore not only fast, but also as accurate as existing quantification tools. In fact, because the pseudoalignment procedure is robust to errors in the reads, in many benchmarks kallisto significantly outperforms existing tools. kallisto is described in detail in:

Nicolas L Bray, Harold Pimentel, Páll Melsted and Lior Pachter, Near-optimal probabilistic RNA-seq quantification, Nature Biotechnology 34, 525–527 (2016), doi:10.1038/nbt.3519

Address of the bookmark: https://pachterlab.github.io/kallisto/about

Guest Faculty Job vacancies in Pondicherry University

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:50:16 -0500

Guest Faculty Job vacancies in Pondicherry University
Qualification : M.Phil. / M.Tech. / M.Sc. in Computer Science / Master of Computer Applications with a minimum of 55% of marks. Candidates with Ph.D. degree and NET/SLET qualification will be given preference as per UGC norms.

Desirable : Research or teaching experience in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
Honorarium : Rs. 1,000/- per lecture (subject to a maximum of 25,000/- per month)
How to apply

Interested eligible candidates may attend the 'walk-in' interview along with all original certificates and testimonials with a copy of their bio-data. Walk-in-interview will be held on 28.09.2015 (Monday), 03:00 P.M. at the office of the Dean, School of Life Sciences, Science Block — I, Pondicherry University, Puducherry — 605 014. Candidates reporting after 03:00 P.M. will not be entertained.

More at http://www.pondiuni.edu.in/news/walk-interview-guest-faculty-centre-bioinformatics

Understanding RNA-Seq Normalization Methods: TPM vs. FPKM vs. CPM

Neel — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:59:15 -0600

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful technology used to study transcriptomes, providing insights into gene expression levels. However, raw RNA-Seq data requires normalization to account for sequencing depth and gene length, enabling accurate comparisons between genes and samples. Among the most widely used normalization methods are TPM (Transcripts Per Million), FPKM (Fragments Per Kilobase Million), and CPM (Counts Per Million). Each method has its unique principles and applications, which we’ll explore in this blog.

Why Normalize RNA-Seq Data?

Normalization is a crucial step in RNA-Seq analysis for the following reasons:

Sequencing depth: Different RNA-Seq experiments produce varying numbers of reads, making direct comparisons between samples misleading.
Gene length: Longer genes inherently generate more reads, irrespective of their actual expression level.
Bias reduction: Normalization mitigates technical biases, enabling meaningful biological interpretation.

TPM (Transcripts Per Million)

TPM measures the proportion of reads mapped to a transcript, normalized by transcript length and sequencing depth. It is calculated as:

Key Features:

Proportionality: TPM values sum to 1,000,000 across all transcripts in a sample, making it easier to compare between samples.
Intuitive interpretation: TPM values directly represent the abundance of transcripts in a sample.
Preferred for comparisons: TPM facilitates between-sample comparisons better than FPKM.

FPKM (Fragments Per Kilobase Million)

FPKM normalizes read counts by transcript length and sequencing depth, but without enforcing proportionality like TPM. It is defined as:

Key Features:

Historical significance: FPKM was one of the first normalization methods used for RNA-Seq.
Single-end vs. paired-end: In paired-end sequencing, FPKM becomes RPKM (Reads Per Kilobase Million).
Limited utility: FPKM values are not as robust as TPM for cross-sample comparisons due to lack of proportionality.

CPM (Counts Per Million)

CPM normalizes raw read counts by sequencing depth, without considering gene length. It is expressed as:

Key Features:

Simplicity: CPM is straightforward and computationally less intensive.
Application: Suitable for non-length-dependent analyses, such as comparing total expression levels or differential expression analysis.
Gene length agnostic: CPM does not correct for gene length, making it less ideal for measuring expression levels.

When to Use Each Method

TPM: Best for comparing expression levels between samples, especially when transcript length and sequencing depth vary.
FPKM: Useful for historical consistency but generally replaced by TPM.
CPM: Ideal for differential expression analysis when gene length normalization is unnecessary.

Conclusion

Choosing the right normalization method depends on the specific objectives of your RNA-Seq analysis. TPM’s proportionality and robustness make it the preferred choice for most applications, while CPM serves well for differential expression studies. Although FPKM paved the way for RNA-Seq normalization, it has largely been supplanted by TPM in modern workflows. Understanding these methods and their nuances ensures accurate and meaningful interpretations of RNA-Seq data.

References:

Li, B., & Dewey, C. N. (2011). RSEM: accurate transcript quantification from RNA-Seq data with or without a reference genome. BMC Bioinformatics.
Trapnell, C., et al. (2010). Transcript assembly and quantification by RNA-Seq reveals unannotated transcripts and isoform switching during cell differentiation. Nature Biotechnology.
Law, C. W., et al. (2014). voom: precision weights unlock linear model analysis tools for RNA-seq read counts. Genome Biology.

Webinar on RNA-Seq Data Analysis on 28 Feb 2018

Strand — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 06:38:48 -0600

Strand NGS is a biologist friendly NGS analysis tool that allows biologists to analyze their data using a very intuitive workflow for the analysis and visualization of RNA-Seq data. This webinar will give an overview of the workflow which includes Transcriptome/ Genome alignment, Differential expression analysis, Splicing events and gene fusion detection. Strand NGS also supports novel discovery like identification of novel genes, exons and novel splice junctions.
We will highlight the use of Strand NGS features such as PCA, sample correlation, clustering, Venn diagrams, CVA, UMI support and elastic genome browser used in RNA-Seq workflow that supports large scale RNA-Seq data analysis too. The tool also supports biological contextualization on the set of interesting genes from the data by allowing downstream analysis such as GO and pathway analysis. The product has an option to create pipelines for time consuming jobs which automates analysis and leaves more time for end data interpretation. This webinar will give an overview of the features in the RNA-Seq data analysis workflow in Strand NGS.

Details:
Session 1: 28 Feb 2018, 9 AM CET
Session 2: 28 Feb 2018, 8 AM PST
Register here: http://www.strand-ngs.com/webinar_registration

About Speaker:

Dr. Suman Kapoor, Manager- Application Science at Strand Life Sciences, has over 11 years experience in molecular biology, next-generation sequencing based testing, clinical genomics, and personalized medicine for disease management and prenatal testing. Dr. Suman holds a Ph.D in Molecular and Cell Biology from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prior to joining Strand NGS team, Suman has worked extensively on protein synthesis in eubacteria and has experience working in CAP and NABL accredited lab validating and interpreting NGS based diagnostic tests.

Kamaleshwar Singh Lab

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 10:46:49 -0500

The focus of Dr. Singh’s research and teaching is on the molecular mechanistic basis for environmental carcinogen-induced genetic (DNA damage) and epigenetic changes, and susceptibility to human cancer development

More at http://www.tiehh.ttu.edu/dr.-kamaleshwar-singh.html

Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute vacancy of Research Associate / Senior Research Fellow

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 03:27:17 -0600

Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute vacancy of Research Associate / Senior Research Fellow

Location where with post of Research Associate / Senior Research Fellow is available:
Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute in Kolkata, West Bengal

Title of the Project: "Setting up of National Facility on Interactive Graphics Computer System".

No. of the Post: 01 One

Salary: Rs. 22000/- per month plus admissible HRA and Medical Benefits for RA and Rs. 20000/- per month plus admissible HRA and Medical Benefits for SRF (Extended).

Age Limit: Max. 35 years for RA and Max. 33 years for SRF (Extended)

Required Job Profile:

Candidate must possess PhD degree in biological or chemical sciences with in depth understanding of protein structure and function; experience on protein crystallization and various modeling software will be advantages and candidate who have submitted PhD thesis can be considered as extended SRF.

The project would involve cloning, expression, crustallization of vibrio cholera toxin, Ace and modeling of its admissible HRA and medical benefits for SRF (Extended).

How to apply:

Eligible and interested candidates should need to appear before the selection committee along with typed application addressed to the above mentioned address along with biodata with complete details and attested copies of certificates on 02.03.2016 at 11:30 am. No TA or DA will be paid for attending the interview. No TA or DA will be paid for attending the interview.

Refer to http://www.boseinst.ernet.in/ADVT/15/p_30.pdf