The Harvard Catalyst Genetics & Bioinformatics Program offers courses in genetics and bioinformatics that are open to all members of the greater Harvard community. These courses cover both general and specialized topics in translational genetics and are designed to better acquaint clinicians and scientists with the tools and technologies available in this important field.
Courses in Genetics and Bioinformatics
The Harvard Catalyst Translational Genetics and Bioinformatics Program is pleased to announce the following education opportunities. Courses are available to all members of institutions affiliated with Harvard Catalyst and will be offered both in the Longwood Medical Area and on the Massachusetts General Hospital campus. Please check back often for updates and confirmation of dates.
Genetics Courses
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Nanocourses
Bioinformatics Courses
Introduction to Computational Biology
Effective Use of NCBI Tools and Databases
Bioinformatics Data Resources and Tools at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)
Genetics Courses
The program offers a three-module course series that covers both general and specialized topics in translational genetics, and which is designed to better acquaint clinicians and scientists with the tools and technologies of genetics and related fields.
Participants are encouraged, but not required, to sign up for the three courses in series.
Module 1:
Welcome to the Genetic Code: An Overview of Basic Genetics
This introductory course will review fundamental language and concepts including DNA anatomy and genome organization; genotype-phenotype correlations; basic population genetics; and genotyping. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions to the faculty prior to the lectures. This course is strongly recommended for both new and experienced clinicians, clinical investigators, nurses, and other clinical research staff who wish to further expand their knowledge of modern concepts in genetics and genomics.
Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM for the offering at MGH and a maximum of 4.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM for the offering at BWH. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This module is offered collaboratively by Harvard Catalyst, the Center for Clinical Investigation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Faculty:
LMA: Juan Celedon, Associate Professor of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, BWH; and Benjamin Raby, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, BWH
MGH: Jordan Smoller, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH; and Susan A. Slaugenhaupt, Associate Professor of Neurology, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH.
Course Dates:
| MGH | Simches Research Building, Rm 3.110 185 Cambridge Street, Boston |
January 28, 2010 | 2:00pm - 5:00pm |
| BWH | Bornstein Amphitheater 45 Francis Street, Boston |
February 11, 2010 | 8:00am - 12:30pm |
Please click here to register.
For registration questions, please contact Michelle Foley. For all other questions, please contact Suzanne Guerette at MGH or Lisa Horton at BWH.
Module 2:
Genetic Literacy: An Intermediate Guide to Understanding the Language and Concepts of Modern Genetic Research
What's a SNP? What's the HapMap? What is a microarray and is it used for genotyping or gene expression analysis? What's an association study (and why do they do it)? If you find yourself asking similar questions, come to this course designed to briefly describe the terminology, technologies, and methodologies of modern genetics.
This second module of the series is intended for individuals with basic knowledge of modern concepts of genetics and genomics or who have taken Module 1.
Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM for the offering at MGH and a maximum of 4.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM for the offering at BWH. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This module is offered collaboratively by Harvard Catalyst, the Center for Clinical Investigation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Faculty:
LMA: Juan Celedon, Associate Professor of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, BWH; and Benjamin Raby, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, BWH
MGH: Jordan Smoller, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH; and Susan A. Slaugenhaupt, Associate Professor of Neurology, Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH.
Additional expert faculty will be added to cover specific topics.
Course Dates:
| MGH | Simches Research Building, Room 3.110 185 Cambridge Street, Boston |
February 8, 2010 | 2:00pm - 5:00pm |
| BWH | Bornstein Amphitheater 45 Francis Street, Boston |
April 8, 2010 | 8:00am - 12:30pm |
Please click here to register.
For registration questions, please contact Michelle Foley. For all other questions, please contact Suzanne Guerette at MGH or Lisa Horton at BWH.
Module 3:
A Primer on Complex Trait Genetics: Basic Principles for the Beginning Investigator
The third module in the series offers a more in-depth discussion of complex trait genetics. This course is modeled on the Medical and Population Genetics Primer series offered at the Broad Institute, which is organized by Chris Newton-Cheh. Expert faculty will provide an in-depth discussion of topics that are relevant to clinical medicine in the genomic era.
This module is offered collaboratively by Harvard Catalyst, the Broad Institute, and Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a maximum of 7.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Course Date:
| MGH | Simches Research Building, Room3.110 185 Cambridge Street, Boston |
April 14, 2010 | Time TBD |
Past Course Faculty and Topics include:
Mark Daly, PhD: The HapMap and Beyond
Paul de Bakker, PhD: Analysis of Genome-Wide SNP Datasets
Joel Hirschhorn, MD, PhD: Genetics of Height and Weight, Including the Impact of Ancestry on Association Studies
Peter Kraft, PhD: Gene-Environment and Gene-Gene Interactions
Sekar Kathiresan, MD: Genetics and Risk Prediction
David Altshuler, MD, PhD: Overview of Complex Trait Genetics
Jordan Smoller, MD, ScD: Importance of Phenotype Definition
Christopher Newton-Cheh, MD, MPH: Genetic Architecture of Complex and Really Complex Traits: Implications for Next Steps
Jose Florez, MD, PhD: Pharmacogenomics
Nanocourses
Nanocourses are one-day events that give an overview of a particular topic in genomics and genetics. Nanocourses are open to all members of institutions affiliated with Harvard Catalyst.
Past Nanocourses
Adding Pharmacogenomics to Clinical Investigation: A Practical Guide
December 9, 2009
In this half-day course, distinguished faculty discussed the diverse ways pharmacogenetic studies have been conducted, from small translational studies to clinical trials to large-scale cohort studies. They addressed key principles necessary for clinical researchers to design, conduct, and analyze such studies. Intended for clinicians, investigators, nurses and other clinical research staff with an interest in genetics and genomics.
Offered collaboratively by Harvard Catalyst and the Clinical Research Program and the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Proteomics
May 18, 2009
This introductory proteomics course for clinicians, investigators, graduate and medical students, nurses, and other clinical research staff provided an introduction to the fundamental language and concepts of proteomics, from sample preparation to proteomic data analysis, from protein-protein interaction networks to proteomic and metabolomic biomarker validation, and more.
Pharmacogenetics: What Do Researchers Need to Know?
January 14, 2009
Bioinformatics Courses
The program also offers a two module course series (Effective Use of NCBI Tools and Databases and Bioinformatics Data Resources and Tools at the European Bioinformatics Institute) co-sponsored by the Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard School of Public Health Bioinformatics Core, and the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. that provides an overview of major US and European bioinformatics database sites. Both courses will enable clinicians and scientists to use a variety of bioinformatics resources, including the basic NCBI Entrez and EBI Ensembl genome databases and more specialized resources. More extensive analytical training in computational biology can be gained by taking the intensive Introduction to Computational Biology short course.
Additional bioinformatics-related courses are available through the Harvard Catalyst C3 Bioinformatics program. Registration for these courses is available through the Countway Library.
Introduction to Computational Biology
The Introduction to Computational Biology course is a one-week introduction aimed at providing students with the tools needed to navigate laboratory datasets and public resources in the context of biology and genome technologies. Students will learn how to use computational biology tools available on the web, via the UNIX command line, and on local files and datasets. By working in small groups, students will develop and present projects to demonstrate an understanding of the vocabulary of computational biology, data management, and analysis of large scale biological datasets.
Faculty:
Winston Hide, PhD, Associate Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health; John Quackenbush, PhD, Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Harvard School of Public Health and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; David Osterbur, PhD, Access and Public Services Librarian, Countway Library of Medicine; and Cheng Li, PhD, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health.
This module is offered collaboratively by the Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard School of Public Health Bioinformatics Core, and the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.
This course is not currently open for registration. Look for further announcements when registration information becomes available.
Effective Use of NCBI Tools and Databases
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) presents "A Field Guide to GenBank and NCBI Molecular Biology Resources, a lecture and hands-on computer workshop on GenBank and related databases covering effective use of the Entrez molecular biology databases and search service, the BLAST similarity search engine, genome data and related resources. Topics will be presented in a morning lecture format followed by a hands-on afternoon session.
Faculty:
Peter S. Cooper, PhD, Public Services, National Center for Biotechnology Information
This module is offered collaboratively by the Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard School of Public Health Bioinformatics Core, and the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.
This course is not currently open for registration. Look for further announcements when registration information becomes available.
Bioinformatics Data Resources and Tools at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) presents a lecture and hands-on workshop introducing their wide range of bioinformatics resources, with a focus on resources and tools for Transcriptomics. Participants will learn how to navigate the Ensembl genome databases website and retrieve information. On the second day, participants will learn how to browse and retrieve data from the ArrayExpress public repository of transcriptomics data and from the Atlas of Gene Expression. In addition, students will learn fundamental steps in the analysis of gene expression data using Expression Profiler, a platform for microarray gene expression, sequence and protein-protein interaction (PPI) data analysis.
Faculty:
Gabriella Rustici, PhD, Microarray Informatics Team, European Bioinformatics Institute; and Giulletta Spudich, Ensembl Outreach Officer, European Bioinformatics Institute
Course Date:
| Location TBD |
|
April 20-21, 2010 |
Time TBD |
| Location TBD |
|
April 22-23, 2010 | Time TBD |
This module is offered collaboratively by the Center for Cancer Computational Biology, Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard School of Public Health Bioinformatics Core, and the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.
This course is not currently open for registration. Look for further announcements when registration information becomes available.