Genomic Data Analysis: A Beginner's Guide to NGS Pipelines

Genomic data is transforming medicine and biological research, but making sense of raw sequencing data can feel overwhelming. This course guides you through the essential concepts and practical workflows of analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from scratch. You will transition from a complete beginner to a practitioner capable of navigating bioinformatics tools and pipelines. Through clear written explanations, structured command-line examples, and conceptual exercises, you will learn how to process raw sequence reads and identify significant genetic variations. What you'll learn: Understand the foundational biology of genomes and how next-generation sequencing works; Navigate common genomic file formats including FASTQ, BAM, and VCF; Apply quality control tools to assess and clean raw sequencing data; Align sequence reads to a reference genome using standard alignment algorithms; Identify genetic variants using industry-standard variant calling pipelines; Explore modern workflow concepts for reproducible and scalable genomic analysis. The course starts with fundamental genomic terminology and sequencing concepts before progressing step-by-step through the data analysis pipeline, from raw quality control to final variant interpretation. This program is designed for beginners, students, and researchers new to bioinformatics, with no prior genomics or programming experience required. Start your journey into bioinformatics today and unlock the secrets hidden within genomic data.