Topic: Bioinformatics Software

This course walks through using and applying two popular, freely available genome browsers and how they can help bioinformatics analysis: the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser and the Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV). Used to view the assembly of the complete genome in human or other species, these browsers are valuable tools for identifying and localizing genes/mutations. This course will demonstrate how to view different genome maps/tracks and make best use of them.

Feel free to install the IGV browser in advance from here – https://software.broadinstitute.org/software/igv/download(link is external) (the UCSV browser is web browser based).

MATLAB provides two-way integration with many programming languages such as Python, which allows for greater collaboration between investigators. This webinar will cover how to call MATLAB from Python and how to call Python libraries from MATLAB. Attendees will learn how to use MATLAB’s Python integration to improve the compatibility and usability of their code. This webinar will be helpful for participants who have collaborators using Python with MATLAB, or for attendees who want to integrate MATLAB’s capabilities in a Python program. This session is for beginners; no software installation required.

Human cells generate remarkable regulatory and functional complexity from a finite set of genes. Production of mRNA isoforms through alternative RNA processing and modifications is essential for generating this complexity. With the rapid accumulation of cancer RNA-seq data in public repositories, there is an unprecedented opportunity to elucidate the landscape and functional consequence of mRNA isoform variation in cancer. In this talk, Dr. Xing will discuss his lab’s computational tools for characterizing mRNA isoform variation, as well as key biological insights obtained when applying these tools to massive RNA-seq data across cancer and normal transcriptomes. Collectively, they have uncovered mRNA isoforms and associated regulatory networks that play crucial roles in tumor development and progression and have identified novel targets for therapy development.

Following the webinar, there will be a Question and Answer session for anyone with questions about mRNA isoform computational tools (rMATS, DARTS, new tools) from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. It will be held at the same meeting link as the webinar.