Computational Life Sciences meet Genomics

As part of a traditional end of semester trip, students from different semesters of the Computational Life Sciences (CLS) program visited the Institute for Medical Systems Biology (MedSysBio) and the Core Facility Genomics (CF-Genomics) at the University of Ulm. Both institutes are familiar with the central evaluation and analysis of genetic data from clinical investigations. Contacts to these institutes exist through Prof. Dr. Ludwig Lausser, who habilitated at the University of Ulm.

The students learned first-hand from Prof. Dr. Hans A. Kestler (MedSysBio) and Dr. Karlheinz Holzmann (CF-Genomics) which processes a genetic sample (e.g. tissue sample) undergoes in genome and transcriptome analyses until it can finally be used for medical diagnoses (e.g. cancer diagnosis) or for research purposes (e.g. selection of biomarkers). Many of these steps would be inconceivable without the use of bioinformatics and medical informatics.

The students learned about current research topics such as semantic aggregation of molecular data (e.g. pathway reconstruction) or simulation and modeling of biomedical systems (e.g. Boolean Networks). The highlight of the visit was the tour of the Core Facility Genomics. Here, the students were able to experience live the use of microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies.

We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Kestler and Dr. Karlheinz Holzmann for their warm welcome and hope to see them again soon.