Galaxy Australia course at University of Cambridge

Biologists and wet-lab scientists from the University of Cambridge have just completed a two day introduction to next-generation sequencing taught by Dr Gareth Price. As the Service Manager of Galaxy Australia, Gareth was once again invited to lead the online live subject ‘Next Generation Sequencing Platforms and Bioinformatics Analysis’ from his home base at QCIF.

Postgraduate students and staff from the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge were introduced to next generation sequencing technologies (NGS) and how they work, providers, common bioinformatics workflows, standardised file types, and sequence data quality control. They used the open, web-based platform for data-intensive life science research - Galaxy - that enables non-bioinformaticians to create, run, tune, and share their own bioinformatic analyses. The hands-on practicals in Galaxy explored sequencing quality control, before and after removal of low quality samples and concluded with how this data pipes into gene expression studies, variant calling and genome assemblies.

Gareth enjoys helping the graduate students, postdocs and staff members from the University of Cambridge who attend the course, and it’s the second time he has been invited to share his knowledge with a class of 30 students. Participation in global events by the Galaxy Australia team is rapidly increasing as borders become less of an impediment to international scientific projects. The majority of Gareth’s time is spent enabling life science research at many university departments around Australia by training and supporting bioscientists in their use of Galaxy Australia.

For further information about this University of Cambridge bioinformatics training event, read the Next Generation Sequencing Platforms and Bioinformatics Analysis description.