BOL: Related items

Zhang Lab

Sun, 28 Dec 2014 12:43:08 -0600

We develop and use integrative bioinformatics approaches to extract biological meanings from experimental data and generate hypotheses for experimental validation. Please explore our website to learn more about our people and our research.

More at http://bioinfo.vanderbilt.edu/zhanglab/

BISR Jaipur

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 23:12:26 -0500

The Bioinformatics Centre at BISR has created an infrastructure for providing facilities to the users working in the field of Biological Sciences. The users of Rajasthan, Jaipur in particular, are using facilities available at the Bioinformatics Centre extensively. The centre has leased line Internet connection as well latest Bioinformatics software for sequence and structure analysis. The centre provides the following services:

Bioinformatics supports to researchers
Customized training in Bioinformatics for researchers and faculty members
Support in Installing, implementing and maintaining software on computer.
Create awareness for taking preventive measure against data security
Organize workshops on thrust ares of Bioinformatics
Research Training to students of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

More at http://bioinfo.bisr.res.in/index.php

liftover

Jitendra Narayan — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 15:45:03 -0600

Convenient conversions between genome assemblie. The liftover package makes it easy to remap genomic coordinates to a different genome assembly.

More at https://github.com/aaronwolen/liftover

https://www.bioconductor.org/help/workflows/liftOver/

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/aaronwolen/liftover

PRISM

Jit — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 15:19:40 -0600

PRISM is a software for split read (reads which span across a structrual variant -- SV ) mapping and SV calling from the mapping result. PRISM is able to detect small insertions and abitrary size deletions, inversions and tandom duplications with the direction of discordant read pairs. PRISM_CTX is a tool for detecting inter-chromosome trans-location events.

PRISM and PRISM_CTX were originally designed and written by Michael Brudno and Yue Jiang, The original PRISM publication can be found here.

The authors may be contacted via e-mail at: prism at cs.toronto.edu.

Additional information is available in the PRISM README file and PRISM_CTX README file.

http://compbio.cs.toronto.edu/prism/

Address of the bookmark: http://compbio.cs.toronto.edu/prism/

The "Ifs" and "Buts" of NGS Quality Control and Trimming

BioStar — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:11:07 -0600

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized biological research, providing vast amounts of data for a wide range of applications. However, the reliability of NGS analyses heavily depends on the quality of raw sequencing data. Quality control (QC) and trimming are critical preprocessing steps that can make or break your downstream analyses. In this blog, we explore the "ifs" (why you should perform QC and trimming) and the "buts" (challenges or considerations) of this vital step in NGS workflows.

The "Ifs" of NGS QC and Trimming

Ensures Data Integrity
If you want to minimize errors in downstream analyses, QC and trimming remove low-quality reads and bases, ensuring high-confidence data. This step is essential for reliable variant calling, assembly, and other applications.
Removes Contaminants
If adapter sequences or contaminants are present in the raw reads, trimming can eliminate them. This prevents issues like misalignment or incorrect biological interpretations, ensuring cleaner data for analysis.
Improves Mapping and Assembly
If your goal is better alignment to a reference genome or improved de novo assembly, trimming low-quality bases and adapters is critical. High-quality reads map more efficiently and generate more accurate assemblies.
Reduces Computational Load
If you want to save computational resources, trimming reduces the dataset size, which speeds up processing and analysis. Clean datasets mean less computational time spent on processing low-quality data.
Prepares for Standardized Analyses
If your project involves multiple datasets, QC and trimming ensure uniformity across them. This standardization makes comparisons valid and reproducible, particularly in large collaborative studies.

The "Buts" of NGS QC and Trimming

Risk of Over-Trimming
But excessive trimming can lead to the loss of informative sequences, reducing read depth and potentially discarding biologically relevant data. This is especially critical in studies with limited sequencing depth.
Bias Introduction
But trimming algorithms might introduce biases, especially if they inadvertently remove sequences with specific biological patterns. This can skew results and compromise biological insights.
Loss of Context in Paired-End Reads
But trimming one read in a pair more than the other can lead to loss of pairing information. This complicates downstream analyses that rely on paired-end data, such as structural variant detection.
Time and Resource Intensive
But running QC and trimming for large datasets can be computationally expensive and time-consuming. As sequencing depth increases, preprocessing becomes a bottleneck in the analysis pipeline.
Variable Standards
But the criteria for trimming (e.g., quality threshold, minimum read length) can vary between tools and datasets. This variability may affect reproducibility and comparability of results across studies.

Balancing the "Ifs" and "Buts"

To maximize the benefits of QC and trimming while mitigating the challenges, consider the following best practices:

Use QC Tools Wisely: Start with tools like FastQC to identify quality issues in your raw data. Visualizing quality metrics helps tailor your trimming parameters.
Choose Reliable Trimming Tools: Tools like Trimmomatic, Cutadapt, and BBduk offer adaptive and customizable trimming options. Select one that aligns with your dataset and project goals.
Set Reasonable Parameters: Avoid over-trimming by setting quality thresholds and minimum read lengths that balance data retention and quality improvement.
Test Downstream Effects: Validate the impact of QC and trimming on downstream analyses, such as alignment efficiency, variant calling accuracy, or assembly quality.
Document Your Workflow: Maintain detailed records of the parameters and tools used for QC and trimming. This ensures reproducibility and enables better troubleshooting.

Conclusion

NGS quality control and trimming are essential steps to ensure reliable and accurate data for analysis. While the "ifs" highlight the clear benefits of these steps, the "buts" remind us of the potential pitfalls. By adopting best practices and carefully balancing these considerations, you can optimize your preprocessing workflow and unlock the full potential of your sequencing data.

genomics public data links !

Jit — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:20:00 -0600

List of publically available databases on google server.

More at https://software.broadinstitute.org/gatk/download/bundle

ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/organisms/human_9606/VCF/GATK/.

ftp://ftp.broadinstitute.org/bundle/hg38/hg38bundle/

Address of the bookmark: https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/genomics-public-data/resources/broad/hg38/v0?pli=1

Andi

Jit — Fri, 13 May 2016 05:16:35 -0500

This is the andi program for estimating the evolutionary distance between closely related genomes. These distances can be used to rapidly infer phylogenies for big sets of genomes. Because andi does not compute full alignments, it is so efficient that it scales even up to thousands of bacterial genomes.

This readme covers all necessary instructions for the impatient to get andi up and running. For extensive instructions please consult the manual.

More at https://github.com/evolbioinf/andi/

Address of the bookmark: http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/13/bioinformatics.btu815.full

Platypus: A Haplotype-Based Variant Caller For Next Generation Sequence Data

Shruti Paniwala — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 06:14:55 -0500

Platypus is a tool designed for efficient and accurate variant-detection in high-throughput sequencing data. By using local realignment of reads and local assembly it achieves both high sensitivity and high specificity. Platypus can detect SNPs, MNPs, short indels, replacements and (using the assembly option) deletions up to several kb. It has been extensively tested on whole-genome, exon-capture, and targeted capture data, it has been run on very large datasets as part of the Thousand Genomes and WGS500 projects, and is being used in clinical sequencing trials in the Mainstreaming Cancer Genetics programme.

Tutorial https://github.com/andyrimmer/Platypus/blob/master/misc/README.txt

Address of the bookmark: http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/platypus

Scientist Bioinformatics Positions

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 06:53:40 -0600

Bioinformatics-Multi_Omics_Integration

https://www.researchgate.net/job/939073_Senior_Scientist_Bioinformatics-Multi_Omics_Integration

Senior_Scientist_Bioinformatics-Transcriptomics_Analysis

https://www.researchgate.net/job/939075_Senior_Scientist_Bioinformatics-Transcriptomics_Analysis-Belgium_France_Switzerland_The_Netherlands

Senior Scientist Bioinformatics - Network Analytics

https://www.researchgate.net/job/939070_Senior_Scientist_Bioinformatics-Network_Analytics_Belgium_France_Switzerland_the_Netherlands

Team Leader Bioinformatics Data Sciences - Mechelen, Belgium

https://www.researchgate.net/job/938787_Team_Leader_Bioinformatics_Data_Sciences-Mechelen_Belgium

PANDASEQ is a program to align Illumina reads, optionally with PCR primers embedded in the sequence, and reconstruct an overlapping sequence.

BioStar — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:19:52 -0500

Development packages for zlib and libbz2 are needed, as well as a standard compiler environment. On Ubuntu, this can be installed via:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool automake zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev pkg-config

On MacOS, the Apple Developer tools and Fink (or MacPorts or Brew) must be installed, then:

sudo fink install bzip2-dev pkgconfig

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/neufeld/pandaseq