The sequencing of the human genome is one of the biggest achievements of this century. This endeavour resulted from the development of automated sequencing and the use of computers for sequence assembly and annotation. Nowadays, thousands of genomes have been sequenced and the number is increasing exponentially. Genomics is leading to major advances in biotechnology and molecular medicine, e.g. by allowing genomes from thousands of organisms to be mined for novel traits, which can enhance the design of diagnostic tools, and provide: better vaccines, improved treatments for disease, better detection of pollutants, and over-production of antibiotics.
This module covers the latest developments in genomic technologies: high-throughput sequencing and computational genomics. The module has a strong practical component to provide a realistic understanding on how a genome project is carried out.
Aims
The aim of this module is twofold. First, it will provide a general understanding of current genomics approaches, including genome sequencing and comparative genomics. Second, students will learn how to study their own genomic data, using state-of-the-art computational resources.
Learning Outcomes
To pass this module, students will need to be able to:
1. Understand the basics of genome sequencing;
2. Process high-throughput sequencing data to produce assembled genomes;
3. Annotate genomic sequences;
4. Know how prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes are organised;
5. Analyse re-sequencing data to study genome variation;
6. Demonstrate the ability to plan and develop a genome sequencing project;
7. Understand the theoretical basis of sequence similarity search;
8. Detect evolutionary related sequences and build phylogenetic trees.
- Module Supervisor: Antonio Marco