Teaching and Course Details

BIOINFO703 Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (2012-2013; lecturer)

Students in the MSc Bioinformatics course came primarily from a computer science/mathematics background, so the course was designed to not only give them theory and practical experience with techniques, but also enough biological knowledge to put each topic into a realistic research context. The course included six lectures on genomic and transcriptomic techniques, network inference, biomarker discovery and pathway and mechanism discovery. It also included two laboratory exercises, which I constructed as working scenarios of bioinformatics research; students took on the role of a research bioinformatician, and worked through two common research activities. In the first lab, students assembled sequencing data, performed QA, and did basic variant calling, then wrote a summary report for a hypothetical experimental collaborator. In the second, students did a basic differential expression analysis experiment on microarray data, identified a set of transcripts with evidence for differential expression between conditions, and conducted pathway analysis using GO terms to relate those transcripts to biological functions.
Assessment was by assignment based on the laboratory exercises, and a short-answer questions exam.

MEDSCI720 Biomedical Research Techniques (2012-2013; lecturer)

This course introduced students to a broad spectrum of experimental and computational techniques used by researchers in biology and biomedical science. Specifically, I gave introductory lectures on techniques for transcriptomic and genomic assessment, covering sequencing, microarrays and qPCR. My lectures also covered experimental design and appropriate choice of technologies for particular experiment types, and computational methods of data analysis. Further content included case studies from local researchers also involved in the course, and a question-and-answer session. Assessment was by essay assignment and a short exam.

MBChB/MEDSCI209 Principles of Medicine (2007-2012; presenter)

These workshops taught the cellular and molecular biology of disease to junior medical students, and focused on giving them an understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying the pathologies they were studying in their clinical courses. These workshops involved a brief talk (20m) and a series of question-and-answer exercises based around teaching materials (e.g. histological samples or specimens).

MEDSCI203 Mechanisms of Disease (2007-2008; presenter)

These workshops taught the cellular and molecular biology of disease to junior medical students, and focused on giving them an understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying the pathologies they were studying in their clinical courses. These workshops involved a brief talk (20m) and a series of question-and-answer exercises based around teaching materials (e.g. histological samples or specimens).