Registration Form: https://forms.gle/himjfjJVDRpFLf8K6

Bioinformatics & Computational Biology for Undergraduate Teaching

As biology becomes increasingly data-driven, integrating computational approaches has become indispensable. We are organizing an intensive one-week hands-on workshop designed specifically for undergraduate biotechnology teachers.

This workshop will equip participants with conceptual foundations and practical skills in bioinformatics and computational biology, enabling them to confidently introduce these approaches in their classrooms and laboratories.

What the Workshop Covers

Foundations in Programming for Biology

• Introduction to Python and R for biological data analysis
• Writing scripts for sequence analysis and data handling

Working with Biological Databases

• Accessing genomes and annotations from public repositories
• Exploring major sequence databases and retrieving genomic data

Understanding Sequence Evolution

• Construction and interpretation of substitution matrices
• Genetic code and first-principles understanding of amino acid substitutions

Sequence Alignment from First Principles

• Global alignment: Needleman–Wunsch algorithm
• Local alignment: Smith–Waterman algorithm
• Identifying homologs and studying conservation and evolution

Phylogenetics

• Constructing gene and species phylogenies
• Interpreting evolutionary relationships

Genomics & NGS Analysis

• Downloading NGS datasets from SRA
• Bacterial genome assembly (short-read and long-read data)
• Genome annotation
• Adaptive evolution analysis using NGS data
• Basics of RNA-seq gene expression analysis

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the need for computational approaches in modern biology
• Gain hands-on experience in sequence analysis and alignment
• Develop insights into protein sequence variation and evolutionary patterns
• Understand gene evolution and species phylogenetics
• Learn the organization and evolution of genomes
• Acquire foundational knowledge in genome-scale gene expression and mutation analysis

Who Should Attend?

• Undergraduate biotechnology and life sciences faculty
• Teachers interested in integrating bioinformatics into their curriculum
• Educators seeking practical exposure to computational biology tools

Workshop Features

• Intensive hands-on training
• Step-by-step conceptual understanding from first principles
• Real biological datasets for practice
• Ready-to-use teaching modules and materials