DV
5.0Reviewed Jan 25, 2022
Great course for beginners! Easy to follow and prof. Provart explains everything in great detail. I can't wait to continue learning other courses within this specialization!
Bioinformatic Methods I
Large-scale biology projects such as the sequencing of the human genome and gene expression surveys using RNA-seq, microarrays and other technologies have created a wealth of data for biologists. However, the challenge facing scientists is analyzing and even accessing these data to extract useful information pertaining to the system being studied. This course focuses on employing existing bioinformatic resources – mainly web-based programs and databases – to access the wealth of data to answer questions relevant to the average biologist, and is highly hands-on. Topics covered include multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetics, gene expression data analysis, and protein interaction networks, in two separate parts. The first part, Bioinformatic Methods I (this one), deals with databases, Blast, multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetics, selection analysis and metagenomics. The second part, Bioinformatic Methods II, covers motif searching, protein-protein interactions, structural bioinformatics, gene expression data analysis, and cis-element predictions. This pair of courses is useful to any student considering graduate school in the biological sciences, as well as students considering molecular medicine. Both provide an overview of the many different bioinformatic tools that are out there. These courses are based on one taught at the University of Toronto to upper-level undergraduates who have some understanding of basic molecular biology. If you're not familiar with this, something like BIO101 from Saylor Academy (https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=889) might be helpful. No programming is required for this course. Bioinformatic Methods I is regularly updated, and was completely updated for January 2026.
Status: Microbiology
Status: Life Sciences
BeginnerCourse20 hours
Featured reviews
NS
4.0Reviewed Oct 2, 2015
A thorough course for beginners with very interesting labs! I was pleasantly surprised with how much and how easily I learned bioinformatics skills with this course. Well done!
RG
5.0Reviewed Nov 4, 2017
I enjoyed doing the course. It is exciting to see how much one can learn from a few gene or protein sequences. Thank you for making the course understandable to a beginner in bioinformatics!
PG
5.0Reviewed Jan 21, 2019
This course is so accurate and useful to the bioinformatic students and the science students who needs help with the computational biology. I would recommend this course to everyone.
AA
5.0Reviewed May 14, 2020
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to get into research in Biology. This course gives walkthroughs of complex analysis by the use of important bioinformatics tools.
ED
5.0Reviewed Apr 26, 2017
Great course. All lectures provide a biological context for the tools you learn in the labs. The labs themselves provide a great introduction to the many tools available for bioinformatic analysis.
WR
5.0Reviewed Jan 18, 2020
Great tour through the main areas of bioinformatics. I learned to use a lot of powerful tools for bioinformatic analyses as well as important topics like phylogenetics and metagenomics.
JM
5.0Reviewed Aug 27, 2015
Great course. The lectures were very clear and informative. The labs were a very nice, easy way to get a hands on understanding of the tools being learned. Thank you!
RQ
5.0Reviewed Dec 13, 2020
Great Course. I love the way it is designed, delivered. I learned a lot. The most important part is that I enjoy every bit of the session and completed everything for less than a week. :)
AA
5.0Reviewed Jan 16, 2020
I think this course is the best introductory course in Bioinformatics. I liked the structure of the course and the instructor is performing very well. thank you for this experience
SR
5.0Reviewed Sep 14, 2021
Explanation was on point. As a beginner didn't have to face much problem to understand terminologies and concepts and PDF of the study materials played an important role to understand.
AR
5.0Reviewed Aug 29, 2021
This course is really useful, the teacher explains clearly and He uses real examples. Additionally, the tools that are reviewed are efficient and interesting for current bioinformatic analysis