All Graduate School of Life Sciences courses

The course will provide training for bench-based biologists to use molecular data to construct and interpret phylogenies, and test their hypotheses. Delegates will gain hands-on practice of using a variety of programs freely available online and commonly used in molecular studies, interspersed with some lectures.

Course timetable is available here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course provides an introduction to the construction of high quality Multiple Sequence Alignments (MSAs) and the computation of phylogenetic trees from those alignments. Further information is available here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course provides an introduction to next generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis methodologies. Lectures will give insight into how biological knowledge can be generated from RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and BS-seq experiments and illustrate different ways of analyzing such data. Practicals will consist of computer exercises that will enable the participants to apply statistical methods to the analysis of RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and BS-seq data under the guidance of the lecturers and teaching assistants.

Further information is available here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to Book or register Interest by linking here.

• Nowomics - Access to the latest data and papers relevant to your research
• Nowomics is a new website to help biologists stay up to date with the latest data and papers relevant to their research. Try it here.
• Nowomics tracks new papers and many types of data in online repositories. You ‘follow’ the genes and processes you work on to see a Twitter-like news feed of new papers, annotation, interactions, curated comments and more.
• For each gene you can also include information from orthologues and related genes directly in your news feed.
• Data are currently included for human, mouse, rat, fly and plant.
• This short workshop will show you how to use the Beta version of Nowomics to find the latest information for genes & keywords, how to set up your personalised news feed and configure email alerts. We’ll also demonstrate new portals to help researchers working on Drosophila or Arabidopsis find the latest and most popular papers.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This practical-based course will deal with all aspects of the prediction of protein structure, concentrating on the prediction of secondary structure, fold recognition and comparative modelling of structures. Computational aspects of protein structure determination, validation and analysis will be covered. The course will be a mixture of talks and guided practicals. Further information is available here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

This course introduces the use of Python for Bioinformatics applications. Further information is available.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by email.

This course introduces coding in Python at a basic level and the construction of simple software tools for MRI analysis. Further information is available.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by email.

This three day course will cover a workflow to conduct molecular epidemiological analysis of viruses, using R both as a platform for analysis and graphics, as well as to call external tools. The first day will cover viral sequence databases, data extraction and manipulation, and sequence alignment; the second will cover phylogenetic reconstruction; and the third will cover analysis of the resulting phylogenies.. Further information for this session is available.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

The course will present intermediate to advanced R programming using the object-oriented programming paradigm. It will cover how to document code and data to produce a fully functional R package. Further information is available here.

The Course Web Site providing links to the course materials is here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to Book register Interest by linking here.

The Ensembl project provides a comprehensive and integrated source of annotation of, mainly vertebrate, genome sequences. This one-day workshop offers a comprehensive practical introduction to the use of the Ensembl genome browser as well as essential background information.

This event will be primarily be conducted by video from a parallel event in the Craik-Marshal Building, Cambridge.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to Book or register Interest by linking here.

The Ensembl Plants project offers a single and integrative collection of interfaces for accessing and comparing genome-scale data for 38 species (release 24, November 2014). Our Genome Browser allows visualization and analysis of plant genomic sequences including gene annotation, genetic variation and comparative genomics. Tools for downstream genomic analyses such as VEP (Variant Effect Predictor) and BioMart (data export) will be also covered in this workshop. In addition to our Browser and web tools, the publicly available data in Ensembl Plants can be accessed programmatically via our Perl and REST APIs, downloaded FTP or accessed through MySQL queries. Users can view their own data in the context of the reference sequence and datasets.

This course covers state-of-the-art tools and methods for NGS RNA-seq and exome variant data analysis, which are of major relevance in today's genomic and gene expression studies. Further information is available here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book by linking here.

How do you make your research palatable to the press? Do you stumble and fumble when in front of a camera? Are you protective about your research, wary of handing over all your hard work to a journalist? Join Dr Eliza Filby, founder of GradTrain and lecturer at King's College London for this one-day media training course especially designed for researchers interested in engaging with the media at all levels.

Many basic numeric messages are inadequately communicated because of poor presentation. This course illustrates some of the problems and demonstrates ways to improve the reception of messages by different target audience. This one-day course is the foundation to all presentations of statistical information. The basic principles of presenting information in tables, charts, maps and text are explained. These are illustrated and then reinforced through practical exercises.

The course is for anyone who is involved in communicating statistics to non-statisticians, or who reports on data within organisations, to specific communities and to the general public where a message is being delivered.

Download the poster at http://www.gradschl.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/GRASP/clear-vision-poster/view

This day-long training course consists of a mixture of taught and interactive practical elements intended to show participants how to get the best out of Twitter for research purposes.

Please note that this course requires you to have an existing working knowledge of Twitter. In order to apply you must fill in an application form available at the following address

https://cambridge.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/come-fly-with-me-application

You own your own research right? Well it depends...

This session will explore the sometimes complicated world of copyright and what can happen when publishing work through formal routes such as journals or through more informal routes such as pre-print servers. The session will also introduce concepts such as third party copyright and rights retention, as well as how licensing tools such as Creative Commons can be used to not only help maximise the reach of research but also navigating reusing other people's work.

PLEASE NOTE that this course will be taught live online, with demonstrators available to help you throughout if have any questions. All lecture components will be recorded and uploaded to the course Moodle page so that you will be able to access that information even if technical or time zone restrictions means that you aren't able to join us for the live sessions.

This virtually delivered course is intended to provide a strong foundation in practical statistics and data analysis using the R or Python software environments. The underlying philosophy of the course is to treat statistics as a practical skill rather than as a theoretical subject and as such the course focuses on methods for addressing real-life issues in the biological sciences.

There are three core goals for this course:

1. Use R or Python confidently for statistics and data analysis
2. Be able to analyse datasets using standard statistical techniques
3. Know which tests are and are not appropriate

Both R and Python are free software environments that are suitable for statistical and data analysis.

In this course, we explore classical statistical analysis techniques starting with simple hypothesis testing and building up to linear models and power analyses. The focus of the course is on practical implementation of these techniques and developing robust statistical analysis skills rather than on the underlying statistical theory

After the course you should feel confident to be able to select and implement common statistical techniques using R or Python and moreover know when, and when not, to apply these techniques.

This series of lectures provides a basic introduction to neurobiology. If you are a new graduate student working in another area but think your research might benefit from some understanding of neurobiology, this is for you. If you have done an undergraduate course in neuroscience of any kind, this is NOT for you.

As scientists, your skills of critical thinking are well developed in hypothesis testing, observation and empirical experiment. This workshop will incorporate other modes of logic and reason into your scientific thinking. The focus of discussion will be social and ethical issues in biotechnology.

You will develop:

• Knowledge of critical thinking, with respect to logic and argument development
• Skills in application of critical thinking using case studies and debate involving bioethics

Developing your critical thinking and recognising how human elements impact on scientific enquiry will support you in making more appropriate decisions in the direction of your scientific projects.

PLEASE NOTE

This course compromises of two compulsory sessions. In the first session you will learn the skills and in the second you will apply them. There is also an optional follow-up session where you can meet with members of your group to discuss how you have applied the skills in your research.

Trainer:

Caroline Broad is a Philosophy graduate, with seven years experience working in the bio science industry and 15 years delivering skills development workshops.

As scientists, skills of critical thinking are well developed in hypothesis testing, observation and scientific projects. This workshop will incorporate other modes of logic and reason into scientific thinking.

This workshop will consist of a set of debates on current bioethical issues. We will then analyse and evaluate the presence and impact of critical thinking within those debates

PLEASE NOTE: This course consists of two half day sessions, with a week between sessions.

A workshop of two half-day sessions that are one week apart, developing:

• Knowledge of critical thinking, with respect to logic and argument development
• Skills in application of critical thinking using case studies and debate involving bioethics

Developing your critical thinking and recognising how human elements impact on scientific enquiry will support you in making more appropriate decisions in the direction of your scientific projects.

As scientists, your skills of critical thinking are well developed in hypothesis testing, observation and empirical experiment. This workshop will incorporate other modes of logic and reason into your scientific thinking. Once these skills have been looked at, they will be use on example discussions in the areas of social and ethical issues in biotechnology – including reproductive cloning and use of bio-information. Please note that these are example topics for practicing the skills and are not the topic of the course.

Workshop leader: Caroline Broad is a Philosophy graduate with a passion for the practical applications of critical thinking; especially in the global, highly technical world we now live in; Caroline has spent ten years working in biotechnology field, previously as an employee for AZ owned MedImmune. She is a visiting lecturer at the Royal Veterinary College, teaching Advanced Concepts in Bio business; delivers workshops to post-docs at Imperial College in Innovation skills and creative problem solving.

Achieving clarity in writing is not just about what’s written on the page – that is merely the final stage in a long and complex process. It actually starts with the interpretation of the question… From a linguistic perspective writing is actually rather straightforward, but the clarity of the ‘end product’, particularly in academic writing, is very much dependent on the clarity of all the stages that precede it. This session will examine this process and explores strategies to help you improve the clarity of your writing.

Over the course of a PhD, students will create and use large amounts of different types of data. This course is designed to help students manage their data effectively, and to make them aware of some of the legal and ethical issues involved in dealing with data.

The design and analysis of experiments is an essential first step before doing any research; this short seminar will help you develop a clear understanding of what you need to consider when planning experiments and will help to maximize your productivity. Please note that this course is aimed at ecologists but the principles can be applied to experimental design in many other areas.

This new half-day workshop has been designed to explore the ideas and techniques to unlock your hidden potential as a researcher with clarity, vision and creative leadership. We willl explore the importance of a creative approach to your research - and its communication - by understanding the nature of creativity, how and where to apply creative thinking and activities (for instance, by setting a new dynamic in departmental meetings!) and finally how creative practices lead to personal change and technical and scientific innovation.

You are encouraged to attend with an open mind 'beginners mind' and a willingness to discuss real issues and problems that would benefit from a creative solution. You will be encouraged to compete a short action plan to focus on next steps in the creative process.