Weekly Modules
The six-week structure moves participants from sequencing concepts and data organisation to computational environments, quality control, reproducible workflow planning and a research-focused capstone project.
Six-Week Learning Journey
The modules progressively build the essential data literacy and computational confidence required to navigate sequencing projects and communicate effectively with collaborators and bioinformaticians.
Sequencing Data Foundations
This module introduces the core concepts needed to understand modern DNA and RNA sequencing data.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Differentiate Illumina, Nanopore and PacBio sequencing platforms
- Understand FASTQ files, reads and metadata
- Interpret the overall sequencing workflow
- Recognise common downstream bioinformatics pathways
Linux & Bioinformatics Computing Environments
Participants begin working with the command line and learn how sequencing data are organised in practical computing environments.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Navigate Linux directories and file systems
- Work with sequencing files from the command line
- Understand WSL and HPC concepts
- Organise project files for reproducible analysis
Software, Environments & Reproducibility
This module introduces software management concepts that make bioinformatics analyses more reproducible and portable.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Understand software dependencies and the PATH
- Manage Conda environments
- Understand the purpose of containers
- Document computational environments reproducibly
Sequencing Quality Control
Participants learn how to assess sequencing quality and make informed decisions before downstream analysis.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Interpret FASTQ quality scores
- Interpret FastQC outputs
- Recognise common data-quality issues
- Understand trimming and filtering decisions
Bioinformatics Workflow Planning
Participants learn how analytical steps connect and how to translate biological questions into structured analysis plans.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Understand bioinformatics workflow logic
- Recognise analysis pathways for different sequencing datasets
- Plan inputs, outputs and checkpoints
- Communicate effectively with bioinformaticians and collaborators
Research Analysis Roadmap
The final module consolidates learning through a mini capstone project using a participant's own dataset or an example sequencing dataset.
By the end of this module participants will be able to:
- Organise sequencing data and metadata
- Assess and interpret data quality
- Select an appropriate analysis strategy
- Develop a reproducible roadmap for subsequent analysis