W1B: Intro to Unix command line II
2025-02-11 13:30 - 2025-02-13 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop (UNIX Command Line II) continues Workshop W1: UNIX Command Line I and uses the Hoffman2 campus computing cluster. The focus is on features that make dealing with large files or large numbers of files or repetitive tasks easier. These include shell variables, substitutions, redirections, pipes, loops, conditionals, subshells, shell functions, and shell scripts. There will be illustrations of how to run modest numbers of multiple commands at the same time — both within a single node/one computer, and (using the Hoffman2 queue system) across multiple nodes of the cluster.

W11: Metagenomics Analysis with Python and R
2025-02-18 09:00 - 2025-02-20 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop provides an introduction to the microbiome analyses from the raw sequence data generated from the next-generation sequencing platforms. We will cover how to perform the 16S rRNA-based analysis using an open-source bioinformatics pipeline QIIME. We will also cover some downstream analyses of the microbiome data beyond QIIME, including statistical analyses and functional analyses.

Computational Pathology Faculty Candidate Presentation - Dr. Matthew Jones
2025-02-20 08:00 - 09:00 | AS-260
Matthew Jones, PhD
Computational Pathology Faculty Candidate
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Dermatology, Stanford University School of Medicine
TITLE: “Unraveling The Evolutionary Principles of Cancer”

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Aik Choon Tan, PhD, Senior Director of Data Science, Huntsman Cancer Institute: Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Endowed Chair in Cancer Data Science and Professor, University of Utah
2025-02-24 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “TBD”

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Jianzhi "George" Zhang, PhD, Marshall W. Nirenberg Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan
2025-03-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Christian Huber, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, Penn State University
2025-03-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159

QCBio's New Quarterly Faculty Research Forum
2025-03-18 10:30 - 13:30 | Hershey Hall
We are excited to launch a quarterly QCBio Faculty Research Forum—a new initiative to spark innovation and collaboration, and shape the future of UCLA computational biosciences.
We invite you to join us for the inaugural event on March 18, 2025, from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM in Hershey Hall Grand Salon.
We have terrific line-up of Faculty speakers:

Chongyuan Luo
Roy Wollman
Jamie Lloyd-Smith
Elisa Franco
Alan Garfinkel

If interested, fill out the registration form. Please make sure you respond by March 10, 2025.

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Brenna Henn, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Co-Director: Northern Cape Tuberculosis Project - UC Davis
2025-03-31 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “Why study human genomic diversity in African populations?”

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Adam Yala, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computational Precision Heath, Statistics and EECS - UC Berkeley and UCSF
2025-04-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “AI for personalized cancer care”

https://qcb.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2025/03/Yala_Adam_Edited-Recording-1.mp4

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Xuebing Wu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences - Columbia University
2025-04-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “Illuminating the Twilight Zone: The Noncoding Genome Lost in Translation”
https://qcb.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2025/03/Wu_Xuebing_Edited.mp4

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, Alex and Susie Algard Endowed Professor, Microbiology & Immunology - Stanford University
2025-04-21 12:30 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “The Predicament of the Industrialized Gut Microbiome”

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Tiffani Bright, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education; Assistant Professor, Department of Computational Biomedicine - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
2025-04-28 12:00 - 17:00 | ZOOM, CA, United States
TITLE: “Fair AI for Health: Reducing Bias in Predictive Models”

W21: Image Processing for Microscopy
2025-04-29 09:00 - 2025-05-01 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
The analysis of imaging datasets is both exciting and challenging. New and increasingly powerful techniques try to maximize the information derived from multi-dimensional imaging datasets. Yet, every dataset can be a unique analysis challenge, and packages may not always work out-of-the-box. In this workshop, we will explore some popular computational tools to extract quantitative information from imaging data. Our focus will be to first grasp the principles underlying image analysis, and see how they can be logically applied to different kinds of imaging datasets. We will cover image generation, filtering, object identification, measurement of object properties, and the basics of object tracking. Through a series of stepwise hands-on exercises for each concept, we will build up to the goal of designing a full image analysis pipeline. Some programming experience in Python is highly recommended (but optional). Participants are also welcome to bring their own images and videos for discussion.

Webinar: Big data for novel diagnostics and therapeutics
2025-04-29 17:30 - 18:30 | ZOOM, CA, United States
Fueled by technological innovations, online databases and algorithmic developments, biomedical research is rapidly becoming a data science. In this webinar, three of the most innovative UCLA faculty will share their perspectives on how biological big data are enabling their research. We will hear about robotic instrumentation that generate big data about drugs and genes, how diverse datasets can be integrated to identify patterns that inform novel diagnostics, and how shared databases can be leveraged to identify new disease insights from existing drugs.
Big Data for Novel Diagnostics and Therapeutics
a conversation featuring
Xia Yang
Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology
Professor, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Robert D. Damoiseaux
Professor, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Professor, Bioengineering
Jennifer L. Wilson
Assistant Professor, Bioengineering
moderated by
Alexander Hoffmann
Director, Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences
Asher Professor of Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Mark Gerstein, PhD, Albert L Williams Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, of Computer Science, and of Statistics & Data Science - Yale
2025-05-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159

W6: BS-DNA Methylation Analysis with Hoffman2 and R
2025-05-06 09:00 - 2025-05-08 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop will introduce the basic principles of DNA methylation and briefly describe available methods for DNA methylation assessment, focusing on bisulfite sequencing (BS-Seq). We will cover the principles of BSseq preprocessing, alignment and methylation calling, differential methylation analysis, annotation and visualization. Attendees will have the opportunity to work on real DNA methylation data provided by the instructor and run the analysis on Hoffman2 and locally. Attendees need to have a basic knowledge in UNIX commands and R programming for this workshop. No previous experience with NGS or DNA methylation analysis is necessary.

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Roy Wollman, PhD, Professor, Biochemistry, Structural and Computational Biology, Systems Biology and Biological Regulation - UCLA
2025-05-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “Spatial Single-Cell Mapping of Transcriptional Differences Across Genetic Backgrounds in Mouse Brains”

W1c: Intro to Unix command line III
2025-05-13 13:30 - 2025-05-15 16:30 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Carl Veller, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolution - University of Chicago
2025-05-19 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “Chromosome-scale drift under stabilizing selection, with evolutionary implications”

W36: Mergeomics for Multiomics Integration
2025-05-20 09:00 - 2025-05-22 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Mergeomics is a computational tool designed to elucidate the underlying pathways, networks, and key regulators of complex diseases by integrating multi-omics data (genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, etc). With use of integrative omics concepts and network modeling methods, this tool can uncover disease-associated gene sets and biological pathways across omics layers and can identify key drivers within gene regulatory networks or protein-protein interaction networks. In this workshop, we will first discuss the background, omics integration concepts, and capabilities of Mergeomics as well as the key analytical functions and various inputs that are commonly used. Next, we will demonstrate how this web tool can be used to analyze a complex disease by walking participants through each step within the Mergeomics web server and explain how to interpret the results.

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Lixing Yang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ben May Department of Cancer Research - University of Chicago
2025-06-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer Hall 159
TITLE: “The Causes and Consequences of Somatic Structural Variations in Human Cancer”

W20: Single-Cell RNA-Seq Analysis with R
2025-06-03 09:00 - 2025-06-05 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop aims to introduce the basic concepts and algorithms for single-cell RNA-seq analysis. It will help participants obtain a better idea of how to use scRNA-seq technology, from considerations in experimental design to data analysis and interpretation. This workshop can serve researchers who are interested in designing an scRNA-seq study or who have acquired scRNA-seq data and would like to learn about different analytical approaches.

W9: Intro to Python
2025-09-30 09:00 - 2025-10-02 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop will cover the basic concepts of Python programming. The course is supplemented with many hands-on exercises with emphasis given towards computational biology use cases.

W1A: Unix command line I
2025-09-30 13:30 - 2025-10-02 16:30 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Unix is a command-line-based platform that is a highly powerful and flexible tool for data management and analysis. First, this workshop introduces the basic concepts of UNIX operating system and shell scripting. We will explore essential hands-on skills to confidently use the command line interface on either a local (laptop) or a remote (hoffman2 cluster) computer running the Unix system. Next, this workshop covers how to navigate around the Unix file system from the command line and use a number of basic, common Unix commands. The course is supplemented with many hands-on examples. No prior knowledge of Unix or programming is required.

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Genevieve Konopka, PhD, Professor & Chair, Department of Neurobiology, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
2025-10-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Boyer 159, 611 Charles E. Young Dr. E., Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
TITLE: “Cell type-specific transcriptional networks in brain evolution and disease”
Watch recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCokAYrjf_TaziPtmn6l4-5A

W2: Using NGS Analysis Tools
2025-10-07 09:00 - 2025-10-09 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
High-throughput sequencing technology involves a number of concepts and techniques that shape a project before application-specific processes are utilized. First, this workshop introduces the more “universal” aspects of high-throughput sequence analysis—from experimental design to sequencing and alignment methods. Next, this workshop covers common file formats for sequence data and limitations of sequencing technologies.
We will explore a hands-on exercise using the Hoffman2 cluster and will use programs designed to analyze read data, clean artifact and low-quality sequences, and align short reads to a reference genome. At the end of this workshop, students will better understand the logic behind how many of these steps work.
Students who are comfortable working with the command line will find this course significantly easier than those who are inexperienced in command-line interface. While Workshop 1 is not an absolute requirement, it is highly recommended for any student who is not already experienced working in a command line environment. A student who takes this workshop at the same time as Workshop 1 should not find any problems with timing of material between these two classes.

W18: Advanced Python
2025-10-07 13:30 - 2025-10-09 16:30 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop will cover some more advanced topics in python including an overview of object-oriented python (this will not be an in-depth course on object-oriented programming), use of the numpy and pandas libraries (python libraries for efficient handling of large numeric and heterogenous datasets, and matplotlib for plotting results. At the end of this workshop, students will better understand the python data structures for handling large datasets and will have some knowledge of how to manipulate these data and plot them for presentation.

Frontiers in Computational Biosciences Seminar Series: Yuzhe Yang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine & Computer Science, UCLA
2025-10-13 12:00 - 13:00 | ZOOM, CA, United States
TITLE: “Multisensory AI for Personalized Healthcare”
Watch recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCokAYrjf_TaziPtmn6l4-5A

W3: Intro to R and Data Visualization
2025-10-14 09:00 - 2025-10-16 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
R (www.r-project.org) is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. First, this workshop introduces basic concepts, syntax, and usage in R programming, statistical analysis, and visualization techniques. We will conduct hands-on tutorials throughout the session, giving attendees a chance to see R in action. This course is a pre-requisite for several other Collaboratory workshops.
This workshop is geared towards researchers who have little or no experience with R who want to get started with importing data into R and visualize it. This workshop will provide resources for data wrangling, visualization and cover principles and best-practices for robust and reproducible data visualization. If you are interested in any particular R/Data Visualization tool, please contact the instructor in advance and effort will be made to cover topics of community interest.

W17: Machine Learning with Python
2025-10-14 09:00 - 2025-10-16 12:00 | 529 Boyer Hall, 611 Charles E Young Dr E,, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This workshop will cover the basic principles involved in the applications mentioned above, such as pattern recognition, linear and non-linear regression and cluster analysis. The workshop will be oriented towards hands-on activities, starting from the basics of how to load and prepare biological datasets in a Python environment.
