Project management for cloud genomics

Good data organisation is the foundation of any research project. It sets you up well for an analysis and makes it easier to come back to the project later. It also allows you to share your work with collaborators, including your most important collaborator - future you.

Person working at a computer with an offstage person asking "How is the analysis going?" The person at the computer replies "Can't understand the date...and the data collector does not answer my emails or calls" Person offstage: "That's terrible! So cruel! Who did collect the data? I will sack them!" Person at the computer: "um...I did, 3 years ago"

Organising a project that includes sequencing involves many components. There’s the “metadata” about the experimental setup and conditions, the measurements of experimental parameters, the sequencing preparation and sample information, the sequences themselves and the files and workflow of any bioinformatics analysis.

Much of the information in a sequencing project is digital, and we need to keep track of our digital records in the same way we have a lab notebook and sample freezer.

In this lesson, we’ll go through the project organisation and documentation needed for an efficient bioinformatics workflow. This will make you a more effective bioinformatics researcher and prepare your data and project for publication. Grant agencies and publishers increasingly require this information.

In this lesson, we’ll be using data from a famous study of experimental evolution using E. coli. More information about this dataset is available here. In this study there are several types of files:

Throughout the analysis, we will generate more files from the steps in the bioinformatics pipeline and documentation on the tools and parameters that we used.

Getting Started

This lesson assumes no prior experience with the tools covered in the course. However, learners are expected to have some familiarity with biological concepts, including the concept of genomic variation within a population.

This lesson is part of a course that uses data hosted on an Amazon Machine Instance (AMI). Workshop participants will be given information on how to log-in to the AMI during the course. Information on preparing for the course is provided on the Cloud-SPAN Genomics Course setup page.

Schedule

00:00 1. Data Tidiness What metadata should I collect?
How should I structure my sequencing data and metadata?
00:30 2. Planning for NGS Projects How do I plan and organise a genome sequencing project?
What information does a sequencing facility need?
What are the guidelines for data storage?
01:00 3. Why of cloud computing What is cloud computing?
What are the tradeoffs of cloud computing?
01:05 4. Logging onto the Cloud How do I connect to an AWS instance?
01:50 5. Introducing the Shell What is a command shell and why would I use one?
How can I move around on my computer?
How can I see what files and directories I have?
How can I specify the location of a file or directory on my computer?
02:20 Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.