Course Overview

Welcome to the complex universe of microbial communities. This course is designed to help you easily grasp the fundamental concepts of Metagenomic Data Analysis. If you are a beginner in microbiology or bioinformatics and want to learn how to analyze data from environmental samples (such as soil, water, or the gut microbiome), this course is the perfect starting point for you.

What You Will Learn

We have structured the entire curriculum into 3 distinct modules and 9 comprehensive classes, guiding you from raw data handling to advanced functional analysis.

• Module 1: Foundations & Data Pre-processing Build a strong foundation. In this module, you will learn the differences between Amplicon and Shotgun sequencing, and how to perform quality checks and filtering on raw sequencing data (FASTQ files) to prepare them for analysis.

• Module 2: Structural Analysis & Taxonomy Dive into the core of data analysis. Learn how to assemble small DNA fragments into whole genomes (Assembly) and separate them into distinct organisms (Binning). You will then learn how to identify the specific bacteria or viruses present in your sample.

• Module 3: Functional Analysis & Visualization Turn your data into a story. This module focuses on understanding the functions of the microbial community—such as identifying antibiotic resistance or mapping metabolic pathways. Finally, you will learn to visualize your data using tools like Krona plots and Heatmaps.

Who Should Attend

• Undergraduate and Postgraduate students in Microbiology, Biotechnology, or Genomics.

• Researchers looking to apply computational methods to their wet-lab research.

• Clinical data analysts working with the human microbiome.

Outcome

By the end of this course, you will be able to answer two fundamental questions through data analysis: "Who is there?" and "What are they doing?" You will gain the skills to independently process raw data and generate publication-quality figures.