Bioinformatics for the Life Sciences

Module Overview

• Term 1 Diagnostic genome analysis

  5 ECTS, Course code: BFVH15DIAGN

• Term 1 Linux

  3 ECTS, Course code: BFV17LINUX By themselves, data have little or no information content. Only by placing a datum in a certain context, or by combining it with other data, can information be generated. In the stone age of information sciences, data were stored in files, which reflected the required information. Due to its dependence on inflexible file structures, this approach proved to be quite cumbersome to work with. When relational databases were invented, which allow researchers to flexibly recombine data, they became the de facto standard to the extent that the term 'database' often is used as a synonym for 'relational database'. In this course basic usage of SQL, the programming language used to access and manipulate relational databases, will be explained.

• Tern 1 Theory of bioinformatics 1

  3 ECTS, Course code: BFVH15THBINEN1 Bioinformatics is built on two great assumptions: that evolutionary relationships between proteins will show up in the DNA sequence coding for them, and that you can use these relationships in bulk to predict the likelihood that any two or more novel sequences are related. These two assumptions allow you to create alignments between wildly different DNA and protein sequences which allow you to compare them base by base or amino-acid by amino-acid with statistical confidence. From these alignments you can then infer whether mutations have occurred which affect the function of the protein in some way. Because Next Generation Sequencing produces such large amounts of data, new alignment methods have been developed which trade accuracy for speed. This course will introduce both the theory and practice of sequence alignment for inferring function, aligning reads from NGS and using these alignments to draw biological conclusions.

• Tern 1 Data analysis and visualization using R 1

  3 ECTS, Course code: BFVH19DAVUR1

• Tern 1 Dutch Culture and Language (only for exchange students)

  1 ECTS, Course code: LSTX16DCL1

• Term 1 Academic Counselling (only for Hanze-students)

  1 ECTS

• Term 2 Capstone project: Analysis of gene expression

  8 ECTS, Course code: BFVH15CAPSTONE During this project you will work on a project around the analysis of gene expression.

• Term 2 Data analysis and visualization using R 2

  4 ECTS, Course code: BFVH19DAVUR2 In this course, you will learn to combine R flow control elements and functions into a well-designed and readable script, and apply basis statistical tests and interpret them. Furthermore, you will learn to work with several data packages and perform an Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) on a given dataset.

• Term 2 Theory of bioinformatics 2

  3 ECTS, Course code: BFVH15THBIN2

Admission & application

This minor programme is available for students from the Hanze University of Applied sciences, students from other universities or universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands and exchange students. Below you find more information about each procedure.

• Hanze-students Biology and Medical Laboratory Research (both majors)

  This minor is available for everyone from the Biology and Medical Laboratory Research programme who has aquired 60 EC from the propaedeutic phase and 48 EC from the main phase. You can sign up via Osiris, up to 4 weeks before the start of the minor.

• Exchange students Life Sciences

  To enter this exchange semester, you must have completed two or three years of a bachelor's programme in the field of life sciences, and have a basic knowledge of genetics, cel biology and statistics. We also require a CEFR level of B2 or higher. You can apply for this exchange semester via our International Office, more information can be found on the Exchange Application page (see contact tab for a direct link).

• Students in the Netherlands Biomedical programmes

  Third year students from a program in biomedical sciences from another university or university of applied sciences can apply for this minor via the website Kies op Maat: www.kiesopmaat.nl.