Project Course: Bioinformatics of Big Data

Aim

Knowledge and understandingOn completion of the course, the student shall be able to:

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of different programming platforms for solving specific biomedical problems.
• Describe how big data can be used to achieve precision medicine and the ethical issues that may arise  Understand the limitations of using big data to solve biomedical problems
• Describe the computational challenges involved in the production, storage and analysis of large volumes of data
• Describe the life cycle of application development from a basic software engineering perspective
• Describe different ways of commercialising biomedical software solutions

Skills and abilitiesOn completion of the course, the student shall be able to:

• Use public omics databases and identify appropriate datasets in order to solve specific biomedical problems
• Write programs using the programming language R in order to read, process and analyse large biomedical datasets
• Identify and use suitable software packages and tools in order to solve specific biomedical problems
• Describe orally and in writing the potential of biomedical software solutions for economic and social development
• Apply and understand agile project management methods

Judgement ability and approachOn completion of the course, the student shall be able to:

• Demonstrate a critical approach to searching for relevant biomedical information within the field big data and bioinformatics
• Critically appraise the medical and financial potential biomedical software solutions have for society

Content

The course encompasses the study of bioinformatic analysis of big data for the development of individualised medicine. The course encompasses training in the use of the programming language R to analyse large omics datasets, with the aim of identifying new biomarkers and drug targets. The course also introduces the processes through which biomedical software solutions can be developed, commercialised and published. In addition, the student will study concepts and ethical issues relating to the generation and use of big data in modern medical practice. The course encompasses the fields bioinformatics, medical genomics, medical ethics and basic software development.