With the rise in high-throughput sequencing technologies, the volume of omics data has grown exponentially in recent times and a major issue is to mine useful knowledge from these data which are also heterogeneous in nature. Machine learning (ML) is a discipline in which computers perform automated learning without being programmed explicitly and assist humans to make sense of large and complex data sets. The analysis of complex high-volume data is not trivial and classical tools cannot be used to explore their full potential. Machine learning can thus be very useful in mining large omics datasets to uncover new insights that can advance the field of bioinformatics.

This 2-day course will introduce participants to the machine learning taxonomy and the applications of common machine learning algorithms to omics data. The course will cover the common methods being used to analyse different omics data sets by providing a practical context through the use of basic but widely used R libraries. The course will comprise a number of hands-on exercises and challenges where the participants will acquire a first understanding of the standard ML processes, as well as the practical skills in applying them on familiar problems and publicly available real-world data sets.