Python for Life Scientists

Duration: 5 days lecture & practical workshop

Scientific Organizers: Allegra Via (Uni. La Sapienza, Rome) & Vicky Schneider (TGAC)

When: 7-11 October 2013

Venue:

Chris Lamb Training Suite,
The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC)
Norwich Research Park
Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

Registration: £150 (includes tea/coffee, lunch and one course dinner), limited spaces available.

REGISTER HERE Deadline 10 July 2013

Aims: Python is an object-oriented programming language that is ideal for biological data analysis. The course will start with very basic language concepts and instructions and will cover all the main language aspects, including variables, types, modules, functions, exceptions, control of flux, input, output, and classes. All the examples and practical sessions will focus on solving particular biological problems. In particular, examples and practical sessions will cover:

- working with DNA and protein sequences

- data retrieval from files and their manipulation

- running applications, such as BLAST, locally and from a script

- finding motifs in sequences

- parsing Swiss-Prot files, PDB files, ENSEMBL records, blast output files, etc.

Biopython will be also introduced and applied to some of the mentioned examples.

The course is meant to be highly interactive and the students will continuously put theory into practice while learning.

By the end of the course, the students will have a good understanding of Python basics and will have acquired the skills to manage any type of bioinformatics record and to run applications from scripts.

Unix/linux basic skills will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Course Pre-requisites

Basic familiarity with bioinformatics data resources such as Uniprot/Swiss-Prot, Blast, ENSEMBL, PDB, etc. The course is directed to biologists with little or no programming experience and aims at making them capable to use Python to autonomously manage and analyse biological data.

Target Audience

End-users of bioinformatics databases and tools that aim at developing hands-on capabilities for biological data analysis, ie writing their own or adapting somebody else's Python scripts in an autonomous way.

Instructors:

Allegra Via graduated in Theoretical Physics at Sapienza University of Rome and obtained her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2002. Since 1998 she works in Computational Biology and regularly teaches Bioinformatics and Python Programming Language to bioinformaticians and biologists. She was Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' where she has been Adjunct Professor in 2005-2010. Since the academic year 2010-2011 she teaches at Sapienza University of Rome. She also gives invited lectures in other universities and in training courses (e.g. GTPB). Currently she works as researcher in the Biocomputing Group of Sapienza University of Rome headed by Anna Tramontano. Her main research interests include protein structural bioinformatics and protein function prediction and analysis. Besides her research activity, she wrote two book chapters related to Internet for Cell and Molecular Biologists.

Affiliation: Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, IT

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