About the Masive Data Analysis Courses

High-throughput technologies such as DNA microarrays (GWAS) and more recently next generation sequencing (NGS), are characterized for producing massive amounts of data, whose analysis and interpretation is not trivial. Such new genome-scale technologies offer possibilities for querying living systems that only a few years ago we could not even dream. However, at the same time, posses new challenges in the way the hypotheses must be tested and the results have to be analyzed. Early editions of this course dealt almost exclusively with microarray data, however, the rapid popularization of NGS technologies made us shift the focus of the course to high throughput sequencing. Also the title of the course changed from the former microarray data analysis to the more general massive data analysis.

Topics include quality control assessment, mapping, analysis of biases and errors, visualization of NGS data, functional annotation, differential expression and time-series analysis, functional enrichment and Chip-seq. Students will acquire the necessary skills for analyzing their own data using the most advanced software packages. Lectures and hands-on sessions are taught in the facilities of the CIPF, which provide the ideal environment for the organization of bioinformatic courses.