Bioinformatics and Computing

Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary field defined by the use of computational approaches to capture, store and analyse large amounts of biological information. It plays a central role in all areas of biological research, providing novel insights in biological, clinical and environmental areas.

The Bioinformatics Training Facility of the School of Biological Sciences organizes high-quality, hands-on training courses in bioinformatics and computational biology, targeting all audiences, from undergraduate to postgraduate level and beyond.

School-based Facilities open to all include:

• Gurdon Bioinformatics Facility
• Bioinformatics Training Facility at the Department of Genetics
• High Performance Computing Services

Gurdon Bioinformatics Facility

The Facility offers a bioinformatics data analysis and consultation service to researchers at the University of Cambridge and beyond.

Support available:

• Raw data processing, downstream analysis and interpretation of high throughput sequencing experiments, including:
  • Gene expression: Bulk, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Chromatin accessibility: Bulk and single-cell ATAC-seq
  • Chromatin association: ChIP-seq, CUT&RUN, CUT&TAG, DamID
  • Methylation: EM-seq
  • Variant calling
  • Genome structure: Genome assembly/annotation, Hi-C
  • Metagenomics
• Machine learning/AI – supervised and unsupervised models
• Software engineering (R and Python development)
• Pipeline development (Nextflow and snakemake)
• Grant and manuscript writing support
• Advice on data storage/data management/data submission

Visit the website for more information.

Location

The facility is based in the Gurdon Institute (see map)

Contact

Bioinformatics facility manager: Adam Reid

Website: Gurdon Bioinformatics Facility

Email: bioinformatics@gurdon.cam.ac.uk

Access

The facility is open to all members of the University, external academic and industry partners. If you would like to work with us, please email to arrange a free consultation meeting. We also provide free-to-use Bioinformatics Clinics for researchers at University of Cambridge, where we offer advice and can help you to fix your data analysis problems.

Bioinformatics Training Facility at the Department of Genetics

Complementing local bioinformatics expertise, resources and services within the Departments, the Bioinformatics Training Facility supports all levels of expertise and ability, and provides essential guidance for new users of the University's High Performance Computing Service (HPCS).

Training and resources available:

• Basic Skills and Programming
• Databases and Services
• Biostatistics
• Introduction to the High Performance Computing Service​