Course description
A short course taught in London by the Bloomsbury Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics, a joint centre of LSHTM, UCL and Birkbeck.
Applicants for this course may also be interested in our companion course:
Introduction to Genetic Epidemiology in the GWAS era
The Course
Rapidly developing technologies now allow genomes to be sequenced more quickly and cheaply than ever before. This course will cover state of the art methods and applications of next generation sequencing. Participants will be introduced to tools for analysing high throughput sequence data, including methods for measuring copy number variants and allelespecific expression, and conducting disease association analysis with sequence data. There will be considerable opportunities to gain practical experience with new data types such as whole genome sequence, RNA- and ChIP-seq data. By the end of the course, participants will have a broad knowledge of current methods and applications and will be well equipped to analyse their own data. This course follows the companion course “Introduction to Genetic Epidemiology in the GWAS era”.
Course organisers
Vincent Plagnol and Taane Clark
Who should apply?
Participants should have a working knowledge of genetics, epidemiology or bioinformatics, and have an interest in acquiring up to date knowledge about high throughput sequencing. A basic knowledge of statistics is required and previous experience with statistical computing packages such as R would be an advantage. A basic introduction to R is provided at the beginning of this course, and a self-guided introduction to R can follow the documentation provided at http://cran.r-project.org/
Teaching Methods and Course Materials
The course consists of alternating lectures and computer practical sessions. Computer practicals will use free software which will be provided. Comprehensive course notes will be provided at the start of the course.
Course Content
Analysis of High-Throughput Sequencing data
- Introduction to Linux, R and bioinformatics
- Sequencing technologies
- Data formats, quality control and alignment
- Assembly and annotation of genomes
- SNP, indel and structural variant calling
- 1000 Genomes data and accessing data from the short read archive
- RNA-seq and ChIP-seq analysis
- Applications of sequence data (phylogenetics assessing population structure, association studies and detection of genic selection)
Methods of Assessment
There is no formal assessment but a certificate of attendance will be provided.
Course Fee Structure
The cost of the course is £900 for external applicants and £7000 for internal participants (students / employees of LSHTM, UCL and Birkbeck).
The fee covers participation in the course, materials, lunch and refreshments on each day of the course and an evening reception on the final day, but does not cover travel costs, accommodation or evening meals.
How to Apply
Please complete the ONLINE APPLICATION FORM or by visiting the School's website: