Run jointly with Wellcome Connecting Science, this course will provide participants with an introduction to a range of bioinformatics resources and approaches applicable to immunological research. The resources introduced during the course will cover a variety of data types, from genomic and proteomic data to computational models, biological pathways, and reaction information. Participants will gain experience of the analysis pipelines for NGS experiments relevant to immunology and will be led through an exploration of this data to identify information of interest. Additionally, participants will be introduced to how data from several sources can be integrated to provide a wider view of their research, thereby enabling them to be more confident users of their own data and that from public sources.

Virtual course

Participants will learn via a mix of pre-recorded lectures, live presentations, trainer Q&A sessions and hands-on training. Practical experience will be developed through group activities and trainer-led computational exercises. Live sessions will be delivered using Zoom with additional support and communication via Slack. 

Pre-recorded material will be made available to registered participants before the start of the course. Computational practicals will run on EMBL-EBI's virtual training infrastructure, meaning participants will not require access to a powerful computer or install complex software on their machines.

Participants will need to be available between the hours of 09:00-17:30 BST each day of the course. Trainers will be available to assist, answer questions, and further explain the analysis during these times.

Who is this course for?

The course is aimed at individuals working in immunology research who have minimal experience in bioinformatics. Applicants are expected to be at an early stage of using bioinformatics in their research with the need to develop their skills and knowledge further. Participants will need a basic knowledge of the Unix command line, and the R statistical package. We recommend these free tutorials:

• Introduction to the Unix environment – http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/
• Basic R concepts – http://www.r-tutor.com/r-introduction

What will I learn?

Learning outcomes

After this course participants should be able to:

• Locate and search publicly available bioinformatics data of interest
• Use software and tools to manipulate and analyse immunological data
• Apply appropriate bioinformatics methodologies to their research
• Combine different types of data to gain further immunological insights

Course content

The course will explore several bioinformatics resources relevant to immunology including:

• Computation approaches for flow cytometry
• Bulk and Single-cell RNA sequencing and databases of regulatory information
• Tools to extract mechanism relevant for immunology from ‘Omics’ data
• Approaches to analysing adaptive immune receptor repertoire
• Immunology databases
• EMBL-EBI data resources: IntAct, Reactome, BioModels

Trainers

Applications for this course will be handled through Wellcome Connecting Science website or by clicking on the "Apply now" button.

Applications must be supported by a recommendation from a scientific or clinical sponsor (e.g. supervisor, line manager or head of department). A request for a supporting statement will be sent to your nominated sponsor automatically during the application process. Applications without a supporting statement cannot be considered.

Participant flash talks

All participants will be asked to give a short presentation about their research work as part of the course. These provide an opportunity to share their research with the other participants and provide a forum for discussion. Further details will be provided following registration.