BOL: Related items

Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology (Bioinformatics) at DEPARTMENT of ZOOLOGY | TE TARI MĀTAI KARAREHE DIVISION of SCIENCES | TE ROHE A AHIKAROA

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 02:05:15 -0600

DEPARTMENT of ZOOLOGY | TE TARI MĀTAI KARAREHE
DIVISION of SCIENCES | TE ROHE A AHIKAROA

Applications are invited for the position of Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology (Bioinformatics).

We are seeking a person with a relevant doctorate, and demonstrated potential to develop as an outstanding researcher and teacher in evolutionary bioinformatics in the Department of Zoology. The position affords an exciting opportunity for an emerging scholar to research and teach in a vibrant and diverse Department. The successful candidate will develop a transformative and collaborative research program, supporting the university's commitment to excellence in research.

Your skills and experience

A PhD with a background in analysis of high-throughput sequencing data and evolutionary biology.
Knowledge of and familiarity with a range of bioinformatics skills, concepts, and practices as they relate to the biology of animals, including genomic, transcriptomic and metabarcoding data analyses.
A strong interest, and experience, in research and teaching of bioinformatics and evolutionary genomics.
An ability to contribute to teaching and learning environments that support engagement of students and staff with bioinformatics and genomics.
Be committed to and or have established connections or track record of working with national and local bioinformaticians.
Be committed to being a productive collaborator with a track record of working collegially.
Further details

This is a confirmation-path (tenure track) position at the level of Lecturer. The successful candidate is expected to take up duties by 1 July 2021.

To see a full job description and to apply online go to: https://otago.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=2100342

Chromosome breakpoint - a breakup to remember

BioStar — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:31:54 -0600

Chromosome breakpoint refers to the physical location where a chromosome is broken and rearranged. Chromosome breakage can occur spontaneously or be induced by environmental factors such as radiation, chemicals, or viruses. The rearrangement of genetic material resulting from a chromosome breakpoint can have important consequences, including the development of genetic diseases, chromosomal abnormalities, or cancer.

Chromosome breakpoints can occur in two ways: interstitial or terminal. Interstitial breakpoints occur within the chromosome, while terminal breakpoints occur at the end of the chromosome. Terminal breakpoints can lead to the loss of genetic material, whereas interstitial breakpoints can result in the duplication or deletion of genetic material.

Chromosome breakpoints can be detected using a variety of techniques, including cytogenetic analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). These techniques can also help identify the exact location of the breakpoint and the nature of the rearrangement, such as translocations, inversions, deletions, or duplications.

Translocations are one of the most common types of chromosome rearrangements caused by breakpoints. In a translocation, genetic material is exchanged between two different chromosomes, resulting in a balanced or unbalanced distribution of genetic material. Unbalanced translocations can cause genetic diseases or developmental abnormalities, while balanced translocations can be inherited without any apparent phenotypic effects.

Inversions occur when a chromosome segment is inverted, resulting in a change in the order of genetic material. Inversions can be pericentric, involving the centromere, or paracentric, not involving the centromere. Inversions can cause genetic diseases or phenotypic effects if they disrupt the function of essential genes or regulatory elements.

Deletions and duplications are caused by interstitial breakpoints that result in the loss or gain of genetic material. Deletions can cause genetic diseases or developmental abnormalities if they involve essential genes or regulatory elements. Duplications can also have phenotypic effects, depending on the location and size of the duplicated segment.

Chromosome breakpoints can also be involved in the formation of complex chromosomal rearrangements, such as ring chromosomes or dicentric chromosomes. These complex rearrangements can have important clinical implications, as they can cause genetic diseases or cancer.

In conclusion, chromosome breakpoints are important genetic events that can lead to the rearrangement of genetic material and have important clinical implications. The detection and characterization of chromosome breakpoints using cytogenetic, molecular, and genomic methods are essential for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of genetic diseases and cancer. Further research is needed to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying chromosome breakage and to develop new therapies targeting these events.

Unlocking Evolutionary Secrets: A Dive into Comparative Genomics Methods

LEGE — Tue, 20 May 2025 00:25:09 -0500

Comparative genomics is the art and science of comparing genomes—across species, within species, or even among individuals—to unravel evolutionary relationships, functional elements, and genetic adaptations. As sequencing technologies have advanced and genome databases have expanded, comparative genomics has become a cornerstone of modern biology, shedding light on everything from antibiotic resistance in bacteria to human disease genetics.

In this post, we’ll explore the core methods used in comparative genomics, the questions they help answer, and how they’re shaping our understanding of life.

1. Whole-Genome Alignment
Whole-genome alignment involves mapping the entire genome of one species to another. Tools like MUMmer, MAUVE, and LASTZ perform large-scale sequence alignments to detect conserved regions, rearrangements, insertions, and deletions.

Use Case:
Comparing human and chimpanzee genomes to identify evolutionary conserved sequences (ECS) and regions of divergence.

Key Challenges:
Handling repetitive sequences and genome rearrangements.

Computational complexity in large genomes.

2. Synteny and Collinearity Analysis
Synteny refers to conserved blocks of gene order across species. Tools like MCScanX, SynMap, or CHITRA (for visualizing synteny interactively) detect these blocks to understand chromosomal evolution.

Use Case:
Studying ancient genome duplications in plants.

Investigating chromosomal rearrangements in cancer genomes.

3. Ortholog and Paralog Detection
Orthologs are genes in different species that evolved from a common ancestor, while paralogs are genes duplicated within a genome. Identifying them is crucial for functional annotation and evolutionary studies.

Popular Tools:
OrthoFinder, Orthologous MAtrix (OMA), InParanoid, and EggNOG.

Use Case:
Functional prediction of uncharacterized genes based on orthologs in model organisms.

Tracing gene family evolution.

4. Phylogenomic Analysis
Phylogenomic methods combine phylogenetics and genomics to infer evolutionary trees based on genome-wide data. These methods can handle dozens to hundreds of genomes, using concatenated alignments or gene trees.

Tools:
RAxML, IQ-TREE, ASTRAL, Phylip, BEAST.

Use Case:
Resolving the evolutionary relationships between microbial species.

Studying speciation events.

5. Pan-Genome Analysis
The pan-genome consists of the core genome (shared by all strains) and the accessory genome (strain-specific genes). This is especially popular in microbial genomics.

Tools:
Roary, Panaroo, BPGA, PGAP.

Use Case:
Understanding virulence factor diversity in E. coli.

Designing broad-spectrum vaccines.

6. Comparative Transcriptomics
Comparing transcriptomes across species or conditions reveals conserved and unique expression patterns. RNA-seq data can be mapped to reference genomes to identify orthologous expression profiles.

Use Case:
Comparing stress response in extremophiles and model species.

Studying conserved regulatory networks.

7. Functional Element Comparison
Beyond genes, comparative genomics also targets non-coding regions—enhancers, promoters, miRNAs. Conservation across species often implies functional importance.

Tools:
PhastCons, GERP, phyloP (based on multiple alignments).

Use Case:
Detecting conserved non-coding elements in vertebrates.

Studying regulatory divergence in human evolution.

8. Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) Detection
In microbes, genes often jump across species boundaries. Comparative genomics can detect HGT by identifying genes that defy the expected phylogenetic pattern.

Tools:
HGTector, DarkHorse, AlienHunter, SIGI-HMM.

Use Case:
Tracing antibiotic resistance genes.

Exploring microbial adaptability in extreme environments.

Final Thoughts
Comparative genomics is a powerful lens to observe the diversity and unity of life. With a broad toolkit—from aligners to orthology pipelines, phylogenetic engines to visualization tools—it allows scientists to ask big questions: How did genomes evolve? What makes species unique? Where do new genes come from?

Whether you're studying extremophiles, building better crops, or exploring human ancestry, comparative genomics offers the methods to connect the dots across the tree of life.

scikit-learn

Jitendra Prajapati — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 17:39:24 -0600

Machine Learning in Python

Simple and efficient tools for data mining and data analysis
Accessible to everybody, and reusable in various contexts
Built on NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib
Open source, commercially usable - BSD license

More at http://scikit-learn.org/stable/index.html

Address of the bookmark: http://scikit-learn.org/stable/auto_examples/index.html

R tuorial

Rahul Nayak — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 08:41:40 -0500

R learning resources

https://flowingdata.com/

Address of the bookmark: https://flowingdata.com/

Introduction to Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Jit — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 01:32:30 -0600

This is the course material for STAT115/215 BIO/BST282 at Harvard University.

Xiaole Shirley Liu (lead instructor)
Joshua Starmer
Martin Hemberg
Ting Wang
Feng Yue

Ming Tang
Yang Liu
Jack Kang
Scarlett Ge
Jiazhen Rong
Phillip Nicol
Maartin De Vries

We thank many colleagues in the community, who helped Dr. Liu in prepare the STAT115/215 BIO/BST282 course over the years.

Address of the bookmark: https://liulab-dfci.github.io/bioinfo-combio/

Bioinformatics in Africa: Part6 - Sudan

BioStar — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 21:20:59 -0600

Commission for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering Khartoum: The Commission for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering was established in 9/2/1993 as research unit. In addition to research activities it acts as focal point for the International Center for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. The commission conducts researches in order to play a part in solving economical, environmental, health and nutritional problems using modern research techniques with an emphasis on the applied researches in these areas. The laboratories were well furnished with the essential equipments and the catalyst infrastructure to facilitate emergence of a successful for research. The Commission equipped with a computer center and information to serve as informatics and Digital library.

Research Interest and Activities: 1. Plant Genetic Transformations
2. Molecular Population Genetics 3. Detection of human and Animals diseases 4. Breast Cancerspecific protein marker 5. Phytochemical 6. Genomic map 7. Bioremediation 8. Tissue Culture.

Web site and links: www.geocity.cbge.com

Code Golf

Abhi — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 04:17:29 -0500

Code Golf is a game designed to let you show off your code-fu by solving problems in the least number of characters.

Since this is your first time here, I suggest starting with something simple like Fizz Buzz.

Address of the bookmark: https://code.golf/

A guide to machine learning for biologists

Abhi — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 01:43:25 -0600

Because of the increasing size and inherent complexity of biological data, there has been an increase in the application of machine learning in biology to create useful and predictive models of the underlying biological processes. All machine learning techniques fit models to data; nevertheless, the specific methods are highly variable and can appear baffling at first glance. In this Review, we hope to give readers a moderate introduction to a few fundamental machine learning techniques, including the most recently created and frequently used deep neural network techniques. We illustrate how different algorithms may be adapted to specific types of biological data, as well as some best practises and points to consider when embarking on machine learning studies. There is also discussion of several upcoming directions in machine learning methodology.

Address of the bookmark: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41580-021-00407-0

Learn python with example

BioStar — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 23:51:51 -0500

There are over 21 unique Python project walkthroughs in this content that range from beginner to advanced. See below for the timestamps for these projects: