What is Computational Genomics?

Real ELI5: It's using a computer to turn a really big amount of info about people (or animals) into useful info people can use to make medicines and treatments for diseases.

ELI25: Computational genomics is the discipline of writing pipelines, data stores, algorithms, and so on that process the vast amount of data produced from things like sequencing a person's genome (or some part of it). A big focus currently is personalized medicine, i.e. using a person's genome to choose the most effective treatment for them. Cancers, for instance, vary wildly from person to person even if they're in the same organ. Different genes can cause or prevent tumors to different degrees, so your genome really does affect what the most effective treatment might be. It can also help us understand how different types of cells interact to create the function of an organ or system.

I previously worked in bioinformatics doing this kind of thing, but I don't know a great many resources on the subject unfortunately. A lot of what I know was from two devs on my team who were currently enrolled in the bioinformatics program at the University of Michigan. I recommend going down some rabbit holes on Wikipedia first (and the references that those articles cite). Best of luck! I'm still pretty interested in this stuff! What got you interested in it?

Computational genomics is a branch of bioinformatics that uses statistical/mathematical techniques to analyze genomic data, often in search of certain bio-markers for personalized treatment of diseases caused by genomic defects, such as cancer. There are several very good free courses available at Edx: edx.org/learn/bioinformatics

I don't know anything about genomics, but I tried to look for some introductory material on the subject:

1. Overview:

   • Wikipedia: Computational Genomics

2. Tutorials:

   • Coursera: Introduction to Genomic Technologies
   • A Tutorial on Genes, Genomes, and Bioinformatics

3. Tools:

   • Galaxy 101 - What is Galaxy?
   • Computational Genomics Tutorial

Hope this helps least as a quick starting point!