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)

A walk-in-interview will be held on 15.7.2013 at 12 noon in the Department of Biophysics, Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, 92 A.P.C Road, Kolkata-700 009 to select one trainee research fellow and two students under DIC. The positions are purely temporary and would be for a period of six months from the date of joining which may be extended by another six months subject to successful performance.

Qualification:

For the Trainee Research Fellow: Should have a master degree in Bioinformatics or allied subjects and should have biological database development experience. Must have at least one publication.

For the Students: Should have a master degree in Bioinformatics or allied subjects and should be proficient in C-programming language. Must be familiar with techniques of Developmental Biology.

The Trainee Research Fellow would be paid a consolidated sum of Rs 10000/- per month and the students would be paid a sum amount Rs. 7000/- per month during the tenure of the project.

Advertisement:
www.caluniv.ac.in/News%20&%20Announcement/trainee_rf_DIC.pdf

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

The successful candidate will be in charge of the detection of polymorphisms including structural variants, of the comparison of multiple and diverse genomes of a same species and of the construction of pan- and core-genomes. These challenging tasks will require bioinformatics developments and implementation of methods for accommodating the high level of repetitiveness of complex genomes. The tools will be integrated into pipelines and made available to end-users through the Galaxy platform. The bioinformatician will therefore also have to provide researchers with advices on their experimental designs in order to ensure compliance of produced datasets with pipelines requirements. He/she will be hosted by a bioinformatics/informatics team (7 people) (http://moulon.inra.fr/index.php/fr/equipestransversales/atelier-de-bioinformatique) which has computational facilities and expertise in NGS data analysis, and will benefit as well from national and international collaborative networks (Aplibio http://www.renabi.fr/platforms/aplibio/, Transplant http://transplantdb.eu, AMAIZING http://www.amaizing.fr/).

The position requires a doctoral degree (PhD) in bioinformatics with strong expertise in script writing (Python/Perl) and pipeline development.

Applicants should send a CV and the names of 2 referees willing to provide a letter of recommendation to joets@moulon.inra.fr.

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

Research Area

the discovery and on-demand use of biomedical data and services
the formulation, discovery and evaluation of scientific hypotheses
the simulation of biological systems at the level of individual molecules

Link @ http://dumontierlab.com/

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

Link : http://www-dsv.cea.fr/en/instituts/institut-de-biologie-et-de-technologies-de-saclay-ibitec-s/unites-de-recherche/service-de-biologie-integrative-et-genetique-moleculaire-sbigem/laboratoire-de-biologie-integrative-lbi/presentation__1