Large-Scale Data Analysis with R: Transcriptomics and Metabolomics
PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE at University of Copenhagen
This is a toolbox course where 80% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of SCIENCE at UCPH and 20% of the seats are reserved to PhD students from other Danish Universities/faculties (except CBS). Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university (except CBS), you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Aim and Content
Many experimental procedures such as the various “-omics” techniques routinely employed within biotechnology/biological research fields produce vast amounts of data. Therefore, the amount of available data in many biological disciplines is steadily increasing. Fundamental knowledge and skills of large-scale computing systems and analysis methods is required to make use of this wealth of information. The purpose of this course is to introduce the theory and practice of large-scale data analysis to students, which will allow them to perform and assess different types of ”-omics”-scale data procedures, specifically focusing on Transcriptomic data (RNAseq) and Metabolomic data (LC-MS).
Learning outcomes
Intended learning outcome for the students who complete the course:
Knowledge
• The general principles of large-scale data analysis
• Common pitfalls in large-scale data analysis
• The basic concepts underlying clustering and visualization techniques
Skills
• How to efficiently keep, move, and analyse large amounts of data
• How to structure and perform large-scale data analyses in a coding-based software environment, such as for example R
• Handling and modifying large datasets
• Visualization and dissemination of data
Competences
• Analysing different types of large-scale biotechnology data
• Critically evaluating the quality of different types of biotechnology data
• Assessing and understanding results of large-scale data analyses
Target Group
All PhD-students within biology, biotechnology, medicine, pharmaceutical sciences etc.
Recommended Academic Qualifications
Basic statistical understanding equivalent to a MSc from SCIENCE; Beginners level experience with R
Research Area
Large-scale data analysis of “-omics” data in the biological sciences.
Teaching and Learning Methods
Lectures and computer exercises
Type of Assessment
Completion of the course will rely on the production and acceptance of a complete data analysis report in Rmarkdown.
Literature
Original literature, software manuals and tutorials, and teacher provided compendia
Course coordinator
Henrik de Fine Licht, Associate Professor, hhdefinelicht@plen.ku.dk
Meike Burow, Professor, mbu@plen.ku.dk
Dates
02-06 February 2026
Course location
PLEN – Frederiksberg Campus
Requirements for signing up
This course is for PhD-students. If you are not a PhD student, please contact the course organizers before signing up.
Course fee
• PhD student enrolled at SCIENCE: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school Open market: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school not Open market: 3000 DKK
• PhD student from foreign university: 3000 DKK
• Master's student from Danish university: 0 DKK
• Master's student from foreign university: 3000 DKK
• Non-PhD student employed at a university (e.g., postdocs): 3000 DKK
• Non-PhD student not employed at a university (e.g., from a private company): 8400 DKK
Cancellation policy
• Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks before the course starts will be charged a fee of DKK 3.000
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
• No-show will result in a fee of DKK 5.000
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
Course fee and participant fee
PhD courses offered at the Faculty of SCIENCE have course fees corresponding to different participant types.
In addition to the course fee, there might also be a participant fee.
If the course has a participant fee, this will apply to all participants regardless of participant
type - and in addition to the course fee.