Course Details and Policy

At the conclusion of this course, participants should be able to:

1. recognise current topics and questions in computational biology
2. identify relevant scientific publications from citations and electronic databases
3. organise and summarise relevant work into a clear, coherent, succinct review article
4. provide critical and constructive peer-reviews
5. improve their work from the feedback of their colleagues
6. collaborate with colleagues from different research disciplines

This course should be particularly valuable to both computer science and biology students aiming for a scientific career in academic research or industrial R&D.

This is a doctoral training course aimed principally at first and second year PhD students

• in the Graduate School of Life Sciences,
• on the EMBL International PhD Programme at the EBI,
• in the Faculty of Mathematics,

for example,

• PhD in Genetics, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Systems Biology, et al,
• Four-year PhD programme (eg Wellcome Trust-funded),
• PhD Training Programme in Chemical Biology and Molecular Medicine,
• PhD at DAMTP in Biological Physics, Computational Biology, Disease Dynamics, et al.

Self-motivated Masters students and 4th Year undergraduates are welcome to apply but acceptance is subject to available places. The course might be of interest to current students pursuing for example

• Part III NST (Biochemistry, Systems Biology),
• Part III Mathematical Tripos (MMath/MASt),
• Part IIB Chemical Engineering,
• an MPhil by research,
• an MPhil Computational Biology,
• an MPhil Scientific Computing,
• an MPhil Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Masters students and 4th Year undergraduates must obtain the approval of their supervisor/course co-ordinator first and ask them to act as a referee to support their application. Remember this course is non-examinable and is non-credit bearing.

Every week (on Wednesdays), students are exposed to recent developments in a different computational biology research topic. Each students will write one short literature review during Lent Term, and two reports on other students' manuscripts.

Please refer to the course schedule for the current list of topics.

Most of the topics will be presented by guest lecturers specialists in the relevant subjects. The scientific work reviewed in each class will form the basis of a separate review assignment.

About 75% of the lecture time on Wednesdays will be devoted to these topical presentation, while 25% will consist in material relevant to the processes of literature search, scientific writing and peer-reviewing. On Thursdays, there will be no lecture; instead the lecturer will be available for consultation (no appointment required).

As a reference, please examine the schedule and topics of previous courses (2011, 2012).

This is an Academic Training and Transferrable Skills Course and is therefore not examinable. Attendance every Wednesday throughout Lent Term (for 10 weeks), the writing and submission of a review manuscript and the writing of peer reviews are all required to obtain a Certificate of Attendance & Completion.