Workshop Description (Advanced Workshop)

This 3-day workshop (3 hours per day) introduces participants to the foundations and practical implementation of AI agents using large language models (LLMs) and LangChain. The course covers how LLMs reason, how retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) works, and how to extend models with tool use to automate tasks

Hidden covariates in quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis, with Heather Zhou. Estimating and accounting for hidden variables is widely practiced as an important step in quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis for improving the power of QTL identification. This segment explores the best practices for hidden variable inference in QTL analysis. Learn more in Zhou et al. 2022, bioRxiv.

This workshop is addressed to computational biologists interested in RNA-seq data analysis.

Workshop Topics

  • Introduction to Large Language Models and prompt engineering

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

Tool Use and AI Agents for task automation

Technical Requirements

A computer with R Studio

Instructor

Jingyi Jessica Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics (primary) and the Departments of Biostatistics, Computational Medicine, and Human Genetics (secondary) at UCLA. Prior to joining UCLA in 2013, Jessica obtained Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, where she worked with Profs. Peter J. Bickel and Haiyan Huang, and B.S. (summa cum laude) from Tsinghua University, China. At UCLA, Jessica leads the group “Junction of Statistics and Biology” that comprises students from interdisciplinary backgrounds. On the statistical methodology side, her research interests include association measures, asymmetric classification, p-value-free false discovery rate control, and high-dimensional variable selection. On the biomedical application side, her research interests include bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, comparative genomics, and information flow in the central dogma. Jessica is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2018), the Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Math Scholar Award (2018), the NSF CAREER Award (2019), and the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 China (2020).

Workshop Details

Required Prerequisites: Intermediate to Advanced Python programming (W18)
Length: 3 day, 3 hrs
Level: Advanced
Location: Boyer 529
Seats Available: 28

Winter 2026

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Feb. 24, Feb. 25 and Feb. 26

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Affiliates: Click to Enroll
Non-UCLA Affiliates - Click to Enroll
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