Visualisation and Analysis of Complex Networks in Biology

[MEC id=”893″]

Abstract
This workshop tutorial is an Introduction to Biological Networks, their types, and applications. It will include two of the most commonly used open source Network Visualisation Platforms (Rigraph and Cytoscape) with step-wise protocols for creating and visualising your own data as a network. It will present some of the major layout algorithms, visual styles and tips for effective visualisation, with examples from Genome Biology revealing how these can improve analysis and provide insights. The topics covered will be Biological networks, R-igraph, Cytoscape, Data visualisation and clustering.

After this workshop, you should be able to:

• (a) conceptualise your own data as a network
• (b) create a simple network using Cytoscape or R platform
• (c) Add node/edge attributes to your Network
• (d) Perform MCODE Clustering on your Network in Cytoscape

During this course you will also learn about how networks can improve data analysisand provide useful insights, some of the major network layout algorithms & visual styles, as well as tips for effective visualisation.

Format of the Workshop will be Lectures and Presentations.

Intended audience & Pre-requisites:
This tutorial is basic. Requires no prior knowledge of coding. Suitable for students and early career researchers, postdocs, teachers and PIs. Attendees may install R and Cytoscape (Optional).

Synopsis:
Complex natural systems permeate many aspects of everyday life—including human brain intelligence, medical science, social science, biology, economics, even our personal and professional relationships. The past decade has seen intensification of research into structural and dynamical properties of complex networks. This workshop/tutorial is to introduce the basic principles of network theory and the most widely used global platforms for construction and analysis of biomolecular networks such as genetic regulation networks, interaction networks, social and neuronal networks. The aim is to reveal how all these networks, very different in scale and nature, share similar structural properties, and how this simple detail can explain the topological and dynamical properties of complex systems around us in everyday life.

Materials:
Full Course Slides, reading materials and link to follow-up advanced courses will be provided to attendees on the conference website.

Instructor Biography:

Dr. Gitanjali Yadav is a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and a Scientist at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. She is one of the first appointees of a Joint Deputation Program between India and the U.K, and she divides her time between the two countries for teaching and research. She is an expert in Genomics and Structural Bioinformatics, with applications in food security and phytochemistry. Dr. Yadav has received several awards, including the Hamied Fellowship from the University of Cambridge, Exceptional Talent Award from the Royal Society of London, INSA Medal, and the Women Excellence Award from SERB. She has a diverse educational background with a Ph.D. in Immunology, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Research and a Graduate degree in Botany, from the University of Delhi, India. Dr. Yadav actively promotes science as a way of life to students in schools and colleges, specially from rural India. Over the past year, she has organized science camps for young children in rural Haryana, Kerala & Telangana, has been a mentor for Women in Science (WiS) at the British Ecological Society, as well as an ambassador for Young scientists, at the World Science Forum, Budapest and CNRS, Paris. During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Dr. Yadav has been conducting a series of free online  training programs in Genomics and Network Biology, under the name “Protocols From Home”, in order to help students pick up vital skills in Computational Biology and make the best use of their time under global lockdown.

Registration:

Registration is only open to InCoB2020 participants, at no additional cost. Please register first as an InCoB2020 participant if you have not done so in order to register for this workshop. As seats are limited, allocation will be made on first-come-first-served basis.