Events
Upcoming events hosted by or involving Genetics Otago will be listed here. Please check back regularly for updates. A calendar of events that may be of interest to our members can be found at the bottom of this page and in the sidebar of other pages on this site, please note that this includes events hosted outside of Genetics Otago.
Logan Walker IPL
Preparing for the future of genetic health
Logan is a cancer geneticist and the current Associate Dean Research, at the University of Otago Christchurch. His research focuses on understanding the impact of genetic changes on health. After completing post-doctoral training in Australia, and returning to the University of Otago, his research programme was significantly strengthened by being awarded a Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship (Health Research Council) followed by a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Royal Society Te Apārangi).
He is an invited member of several international groups tasked with improving protocols for genetic testing around the world. This work includes developing RNA diagnostic guidelines for both the clinical and research setting, and providing expert advice about the implementation of these guidelines and the interpretation of genetic test results. In collaboration with multiple international consortia, he has also contributed to and led some of the largest genetic association studies to discover inherited DNA copy number changes that increase or decrease susceptibility to cancer.s.
Date: Tuessday, 11th March 2025
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Venue: Rolleston Lecture Theatre, Christchurch Campus (and via Zoom)
AlphaFold for Geneticists
The AlphaFold for Geneticists workshop will introduce participants to the AI tool AlphaFold. Attendees will learn how to run AlphaFold on their chosen variant and interpret outputted results. Led by experts Prof Peter Mace and Dr Adam Middleton, the session will provide insight into the strengths and limitations of AlphaFold. Further details will be provided to registrants.
Date: Monday, 24th March 2025
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Venue: TBC, Dunedin Campus
This workshop is now full, please email go@otago.ac.nz if you would like to be added to the waitlist.
Calendar of Events
The below is a calendar of events hosted by GO as well as events hosted by others that may be of interest to our members. If you have an event you would like us to include please contact us here.
This online workshop is delivered by Genomics Aotearoa and NeSI, and will be taught over two mornings from 9:00am-1:00pm NZT on Tuesday 8th October and Wednesday 9th October, 2024. It is for New Zealand researchers interested in RNA-seq data analysis.
The focus of this workshop is to analyse RNA-seq data with the aim to identify differentially expressed genes.
During Day 1 we will cover quality control and read cleaning, alignment and quantification methods, and carry out an exploratory analysis of an example data set.
During Day 2 we will work through two methods which take unique statistical approaches to identifying differentially expressed genes. We will then look at over-representation analysis, a popular method to derive biological meaning from a list of differentially expressed genes.
Who this workshop is for
This is a beginner-friendly workshop which assumes you are familiar with the basics of R ( e.g., you can copy basic functions like head, tail, or colSums, you are aware of how R stores files as Objects) and bash (e.g., can change directory with cd command, make a new folder with mkdir command, view contents using less command). If you would like a refresher on R you can find one here. If you would like a refresher on bash you can find one here.
Setup
This is a fully online, hands-on workshop. This workshop material will be run on the NeSI High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms – there is no need to install any software for this workshop. Instructions on how to access the NeSI HPC service will be sent out with the confirmation letter to registrants.
Participants must have their own laptops and plan to participate actively. You will require a working web browser.
If you have any questions about these workshops, including whether they are suitable for you, please contact tyler.mcinnes@otago.ac.nz.
This online workshop is delivered by Genomics Aotearoa and NeSI, and will be taught over two mornings from 9:00am-1:00pm NZT on Tuesday 8th October and Wednesday 9th October, 2024. It is for New Zealand researchers interested in RNA-seq data analysis.
The focus of this workshop is to analyse RNA-seq data with the aim to identify differentially expressed genes.
During Day 1 we will cover quality control and read cleaning, alignment and quantification methods, and carry out an exploratory analysis of an example data set.
During Day 2 we will work through two methods which take unique statistical approaches to identifying differentially expressed genes. We will then look at over-representation analysis, a popular method to derive biological meaning from a list of differentially expressed genes.
Who this workshop is for
This is a beginner-friendly workshop which assumes you are familiar with the basics of R ( e.g., you can copy basic functions like head, tail, or colSums, you are aware of how R stores files as Objects) and bash (e.g., can change directory with cd command, make a new folder with mkdir command, view contents using less command). If you would like a refresher on R you can find one here. If you would like a refresher on bash you can find one here.
Setup
This is a fully online, hands-on workshop. This workshop material will be run on the NeSI High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms – there is no need to install any software for this workshop. Instructions on how to access the NeSI HPC service will be sent out with the confirmation letter to registrants.
Participants must have their own laptops and plan to participate actively. You will require a working web browser.
If you have any questions about these workshops, including whether they are suitable for you, please contact tyler.mcinnes@otago.ac.nz.
Genomics Aotearoa and NeSI are proud supporters of the Bioinformatics Spring School 2024, being organised by the University of Otago to run from Monday 18th – Friday 22nd November 2024.
Spring School is an intensive, one-week course tackling the basics of BASH (a command line language) and an introduction to the R programming language, working with Genomic DNA, RNA-seq data analysis, eDNA, and long-read genome assembly. During the workshops you will also be introduced to working on high performance computers and exposed to good bioinformatics practices.
This in person event is excellent experience for someone starting their bioinformatics journey and will provide a general introduction as well as touching on some of the common workflows used in genomic data analysis.
Expressions of interest applications close midnight Friday 29th September.
To know more about the event visit Otago Bioinformatics Spring School 2024.
Submit your interest using this google form.
Contact Dr Murray Cadzow, University of Otago, for further information: murray.cadzow@otago.ac.nz