BOL: Related items

Courses to Get You Started with Bioinformatics

LEGE — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 13:07:19 -0500

Bioinformatics is now at the heart of modern biology and medicine. From decoding genomes and predicting antimicrobial resistance, to developing personalized medicine and advancing evolutionary research, computational skills are no longer optional — they are essential.

Yet, for many students, biologists, and even computer scientists, the question is: “Where do I begin?” With so many platforms, books, and tutorials available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

To make it easier, I’ve compiled 10 excellent resources — ranging from beginner-friendly introductions to advanced computational genomics courses. Many of these are freely available, created by pioneers in the field, and widely used in classrooms and research labs worldwide.

Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to strengthen your foundations, these courses will help you build the skills needed to analyze biological data, design workflows, and think computationally about complex biological systems.

1. HarvardX Data Analysis for Genomics by Rafael Irizarry

From the almighty Rafa, this set of online courses (via edX/HarvardX) is a classic starting point for genomic data science and bioinformatics.

2. Applied Computational Genomics – Aaron Quinlan

Aaron Quinlan (creator of bedtools and many other tools) has made his course materials open. A practical, tool-driven genomics introduction.

3. Bioinformatics Algorithms (Coursera + Companion Book)

Find the highly visual video classes on Coursera, backed by the popular Bioinformatics Algorithms book.

4. The Biostar Handbook

Not a course per se, but a hands-on manual by Istvan (founder of Biostars.org) that’s even used in classes at Penn State.

5. Introduction to Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (by Shirley Liu)

A comprehensive introduction from Shirley Liu’s lab (Harvard DFCI). Covers both theory and computational practice.

6. Data Carpentry: Genomics Workshops

Community-driven training workshops that focus on practical, reproducible research. I was honored to serve as curriculum committee chair here.

7. Computational Genomics: Applied Comparative Genomics

From the Schatz Lab — applied comparative genomics with real-world data.

8. Introduction to Computational Biology (Mike Love, creator of DESeq2)

This course bridges statistics, biology, and computation — a solid primer for anyone entering computational biology.

9. MIT Computational Biology (6.047 / 6.878 / HST.507) by Manolis Kellis

Covers genomes, networks, evolution, and health. A deep-dive from MIT’s OpenCourseWare archive.

10. An Introduction to Applied Bioinformatics

An interactive textbook with Python code, designed for practical applied bioinformatics learning.

Comparative genomics of gene expression lab

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 03:35:46 -0500

The core expertise of the lab is comparative genomics. We combine evolutionary bioinformatics and molecular biology to understand the mechanism, function and evolution of genes.
We study the processes of gene expression and protein synthesis, and we are particularly interested in the phenomenon of translational recoding (programmed exceptions to the genetic code). For more information, see Research.

More at https://www.mariottigenomicslab.com/

What Junk DNA? It’s an Operating System

Rahul Agarwal — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 15:24:26 -0500

The report adds to growing experimental support for the idea that all that extra stuff in the human genes, once referred to as “junk DNA,” is more than functionless, space-filling material that happens to make up nearly 98% of the genome. The paper adds to a growing body of knowledge establishing a considerable role for this material in the regulation of gene expression and its potential role in human disease.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.genengnews.com/keywordsandtools/print/3/32115/

Junior Research Fellow (JRF) / Project Fellow @ Kalasalingam University

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:23:39 -0600

Applications are invited from interested candidates for the post of one Junior Research Fellow / Project Fellow on a purely temporary basis in a time bound research project (3 years) sponsored by Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India, New Delhi.

Name of the fellowship: Junior Research Fellow (JRF) / Project Fellow

Title of the project: Genome-wide Mapping of Murine Specific Dengue T-cell Epitopes: Computational Prediction, Identification and use as Candidate Vaccines

Duration: 3 years

Fellowship: Rs. 18,000 for first 2 years and Rs. 20,000 for 3rdyear (for M.Tech. candidates)

Rs. 16,000 for first 2 years and Rs. 18,000 for 3rdyear (for M.Sc. candidates with NET qualification)

Rs. 8,000 for first 2 years and Rs. 10,000 for 3rdyear (for M.Sc. candidates without NET qualification)

Qualifications: M.Tech. in Biotechnology / M.Sc. in any branch of Life Sciences

Desirable Experience: Minimum of two years research experience in any of the following areas: Immunology / Microbiology / Gene Manipulation / Bioinformatics

Interested and eligible candidates may apply with their resume along with relevant documents and a passport size photograph to the Principal Investigator by post (or e-mail) on or before December 31, 2013. Only short listed candidates will be called for written test and/or interview. Selected candidate may register for PhD in Kalasalingam University. No TA/DA will be paid for attending interview.

Dr. K. Sundar
Principal Investigator (SERB Project)
Department of Biotechnology
Kalasalingam University
Krishnankoil – 626126, Tamil Nadu
sundarkr@klu.ac.in

RNA Bioinformatics and High Throughput Analysis Jena

Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:03:56 -0600

Research Topics:

High Throughput Sequencing Analysis
Comparative Genomics
Identification and Annotation of Non-coding RNAs
Bioinformatic Analysis and System Biology of Viruses
Coevolution of Proteins and RNAs
Algorithmic Bioinformatics
Phylogenetic Analysis

http://www.rna.uni-jena.de/index.php

List of bioinformatics companies and genomics service providers

Rahul Agarwal — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 06:52:28 -0500

Plz check out link for bioinformatics and genomics companies.

Address of the bookmark: http://grouthbio.com/Genome_Software_Service.php

7th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BICoB)

Rahul Agarwal — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:19:36 -0500

In recent years, computational biology and medical informatics have seen significant advances driven by computational techniques in bioinformatics making bioinformatics and computational biology among the most vibrant research areas. The 7th international conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BICoB-2015) provides an excellent venue for researchers and practitioners in the fields of bioinformatics and computational biology to present and publish their research results and techniques. The BICoB conference seeks original and high quality papers in the fields of bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, medical informatics and the related disciplines. We also encourage work in progress and research results in the emerging and evolutionary computational areas. Computational techniques have already enabled unprecedented advances in modern biology and medicine. Work in the computational methods related to, or with application in, bioinformatics is also encouraged including: data mining, text mining, machine learning, modeling and simulation, pattern recognition, data visualization, biostatistics, .etc. The topics of interest include (and are not limited to):
Genome analysis: Genome assembly, genome annotation, gene finding, alternative splicing, EST analysis and comparative genomics.
Sequence analysis: Multiple sequence alignment, sequence search and clustering, function prediction, motif discovery, functional site recognition in protein, RNA and DNA sequences.
Phylogenetics: Phylogeny estimation, models of evolution, comparative biological methods, population genetics.
Structural Bioinformatics: Structure matching, prediction, analysis and comparison; methods and tools for docking; protein design
Analysis of high-throughput biological data: Microarrays (nucleic acid, protein, array CGH, genome tiling, and other arrays), EST, SAGE, MPSS, proteomics, mass spectrometry.
Genetics and population analysis: Linkage analysis, association analysis, population simulation, haplotyping, marker discovery, genotype calling.
Systems biology: Systems approaches to molecular biology, multiscale modeling, pathways,gene networks.
Computational Proteomics: Filtering and indexing sequence databases, Peptide quantification and identification, Genome annotations via mass spectrometry, Identification of post-translational modifications, Structural genomics via mass spectrometry, Protein-protein interactions, Computational approaches to analysis of large scale Mass spectrometry data, Exploration and visualization of proteomic data, Data models and integration for proteomics and genomics, Querying and retrieval of proteomics and genomics data etc.

Authors of selected high quality papers in BICoB-2015 will be invited to submit extended version of their papers for possible publication in bioinformatics journals (Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology JBCB).

Deadlines:

Paper Submission Deadline October 24, 2014
Notification of Acceptance December 15, 2014
Camera-Ready Manuscript January 16, 2015

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cs.umb.edu/bicob/

Marie Curie PhD position available immediately

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 09:23:57 -0500

Sub-project 10: Development of bioinformatic tools for the analysis of MACE data
Host Organizations GenXPRO (Germany)
Objectives : The ESR will be in charge of standardising pipelines that will be used for RNA-seq and MACE analyses by all the participants. He will be involved in performing next generation sequencing to characterise environmental adaptation. A single pipeline to analyse listerial transcriptomic and proteomic data will be developed and implemented by each partner for the sake of uniformity of all the data produced within List_MAPS. The ESR will be involved in the interpretation of transcriptomic and proteomic data for which pathway analyses and good data visualization will be required. A cytoscape app will be developed as visualization tool.
Expected Results: MACE analysis pipeline. Database. Transcriptome comparisons in selected habitats. Data visualization tool.
Duration (months) 24
Contact Dr. Bjorn ROTTER: rotter@genxpro.de

11. Development of innovative tools for rapid phenotypic characterisation of intraspecific diversity of Listeria monocytogenes (Joint supervision PhD)
Host Organizations BioFilm Control (France) and GenXPRO (Germany)
Objectives
1. The ESR will develop an assay to test biofilm phenotype in a large array of food processing-related environmental conditions (salt, acides, disinfectants, preservatives) in BFC facilities. He will be in charge of the development and validation of an in silico virulence assay. This assay will target specific mRNAs in order to estimate the virulence potential of strains of L. monocytogenes. Transcript targets will be selected and tested by qPCR in GXP premises. In the process of validation, virulence results of several strains collected in a humanised mouse model will be compared with the in silico analysis. Once these innovative tools will be validated, intraspecific phenotypic diversity (biofilm and virulence) will be assessed on a collection of environmental and clinical isolates of L. monocytogenes. Genotypic diversity will be assessed under the supervision of GPX.
Expected Results : Adaptation of the BioFilm Ring test R to test food processing environmental conditions. Development of an innovative in silico virulence assay surrogate to animal models. Diversity results will inform stakeholders on the level of health hazard according to the strain. This in turn will help secure food safety all along the shelf life of foodstuff.
Duration (months) 36
Contact : Dr. Thierry BERNARDI: thbe@biofilmcontrol.com
Dr. Bjorn ROTTER: rotter@genxpro.de
ELIGIBLE CRITERIA of Marie Sklokowska Curie actions:
Researchers may be of any nationality
Candidates shall at the time of recruitment by the host organization, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers. Full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree which would formally entitle him or her to embark on a doctorate, either in the co

Candidates required in Bioinformatics and Genomics UK ONLY

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 08:22:41 -0500

I have various permanent positions available based in London, Manchester, Herftfordshire, Oxford and Belfast, as well as other areas throughout the UK.

If you are looking for a new opportunity and have skills within any sector of Bioinformatics with an IT skill then I would love to hear from you. I have various exciting opportunities from programmers to researchers to scientists.

Call me now on 01772 278050 or email me your cv and requirements and I will call you back dareen.evans@itworkshealth.co.uk