Our teaching activities

The success of applying computational methods to scientific projects depends on the expertise and training of the scientists that analyse the data. Therefore we are highly involved in training courses of young computational scientists at all levels of their career. We are connected to the local universities and contribute to bachelor and master programmes. In addition, we train molecular biologist within the institutes research school. We offer practical courses for small groups of students to develop methods for latest *omics* technologies. Students will work with data from ongoing experiments and solve real computational tasks that are needed for scientific progression. We will teach our students in how to work efficiently in groups and teach best practices for software design. Past group work focused on the following topics:

2019 Clustering and pseudobulk analysis of scATAC-seq data
The students used data from single-cell ATAC-Seq to study chromatin accessibility in developing heart progenitor cells. The goal of the project was to create an automated workflow for single-cell clustering, generation of pseudo-bulk alignment files for clustered cells and the setup and execution of TOBIAS footprinting on generated pseudo-bulks. They evaluated their findings by quantitative comparison to results that had been published already.

2020 predict TF activity and their role on chromatin organization
The students used ATAC-Seq and ChIP-seq data from Deepblue Epigenomic Data Server to study chromatin accessibility and TF binding. The goal of the project was to create an TF Analyzer tool that predicts whether TFs are transcriptional activators, repressors, or both. Details on the project are given here

2021 Predict cell types from SC-ATAC-seq data and investigate TF binding
The students used data from single-cell ATAC-Seq to conclude on cell types. After generating pseudo-bulk alignment files for clustered cells they executed TOBIAS footprinting and predicted TF activity patterns per cell type. Details can be found here