Introduction to biological data analysis with R

More and more data is being generated in all branches of the life sciences. To take full advantage of these, basic knowledge in programming is an essential skill for future generations of scientists.

The course is designed for PhD students from the life sciences.

Dates
The course takes place during the full summer semester.
For 2022, the lecture begins on May 5th and approx. ends on July 28th. The online classes take place on Wednesdays (group I, from May 11th to approx. July 27th) and Thursdays (group II, from May 12th to July 28th) from 9:30 – 11:00 am.

Organization
The course consists of online lectures (slides with audio) and online classes. In the lectures both the theoretical background as well as basic knowledge for completing the assignments will be taught. Participants are expected to work on assignments sheets handed out on a weekly basis. Solutions sre presented and discussed in online classes.

Requirements
Programming experience is an advantage but is not required. Programming is a very practical skill, and participants are expected to invest a great deal of time to practise, learn the concepts and complete the assignments for this course. Based on feedback from past years, and depending on the individual experience with programming, 3-6h per week are required.

Feedback comments from students
“Even though this course occupied most of my weekends for the past 2.5 months, it has been a lot of fun! […] I really changed my way to do/analyze data.”
“It was an amazing course! I really hope this course becomes mandatory to all graduate students, as it will help a lot in their research career.”
“In general I like how the course was held but I really had troubles following some mathematical and statistical topics.”

Course content

• Basics in programming in R
• Data visualization
• Statistical analysis
• Project/Data management basics
• Special topic: Single cell data

Goal
After successfully completing the course, participants will have the necessary theoretical background as well as practical experience to start analysing their own data.

Trainer
Prof. Florian Erhard studied Bioinformatics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and the Technical University Munich. After his doctorate and a postdoctoral position at the Teaching and Research Unit Bioinformatics, Institute for Informatics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, he moved to Würzburg. Since 2016 he holds a professorship for Systems Virology at the Institute for Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg.