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.

Population genetics: A concise guide. John Gillespie.The Johns Hopkins University Press (1997)•

Population genetics. J. S. Gale. Wiley (1980)•

Evolutionary genetics. John Maynard-Smith. Oxford University Press (1998)•

The growth of biological thought. Ernst Mayr. Harvard University Press (1985)•

Guns, germs and steel. Jared Diamond. W. W. Norton (2007)•

Evolutionary theory: Mathematical and conceptual foundations. Sean Rice. Oxford University Press (2004)

Few places in Europe where good (and @some places no tution fees) master bioinformatics courses and recommended are:

KU Leuven, Belgium

http://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/e/CQ_50269018.htm

ETH, Zurich

http://www.cbb.ethz.ch/

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

http://studies.ku.dk/masters/bioinformatics/

University of Helsinki, Finland

http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/en/mbi/

Stockholm University, Sweden

http://www.sbc.su.se/masters/

Universities in Netherlands

http://www.nbic.nl/education/msc-programmes/

TUM , Munich Germany

http://www.mastersportal.eu/studies/865/bioinformatics.html

University of Bergen, Norway

http://www.uib.no/en/studieprogram/MAMN-INF/BI/plan

Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/58444439/mabi

Other links:

http://www.masterstudies.com/Masters-Degree/Bioinformatics/Europe/

https://studyinsweden.se/programmes/?query=bioinformatics&period=ht-2016&level=ma&subject=natural-science&university=#search

java -mx512m -jar BamView.jar

and extra command line options are given when '-h' is used:

java -jar BamView.jar -h

BAM files can be specified on the command line with the '-a' option:

java -mx512m -jar BamView.jar -a pathToFile/sorted.bam

If a BAM filename is not given on the command line BamView will prompt for a file to be entered. The BAM index file should have the same name as the BAM file but with a '.bai' suffix. Multiple BAM files can be loaded and overlaid in the viewer. To make this easier BamView will read in files that contain a list of filenames.

Address of the bookmark: http://bamview.sourceforge.net/

Address of the bookmark: http://gtpb.igc.gulbenkian.pt/bicourses/index.html

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/181-algorithms/4537-a-new-dna-sequence-search-compressive-genomics.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_of_Genomic_Re-Sequencing_Data

http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v30/n7/full/nbt.2241.html

http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/13/i283.full

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/cb/cast/

Date : June 10-13

Organizers: The Society for Bioinformatics in Northern European countries (SocBiN) and the Norwegian Bioinformatics Platform / ELIXIR.NO

Venue: Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway

Topics:
Tools and technologies for integrative bioinformatics
Metagenomics
Comparative genomics and phylogeny
Post-ENCODE bioinformatics
Gene regulation
Cancer genomes
Marine genomics

http://www.biospectrumindia.com/biospecindia/features/203849/supercomputing-indian-agriculture-fast-track-mode/page/1