Training
The Shared Research Facilities run training courses throughout the year. These courses combine bioinformatics practical sessions with lectures to familiarise participants with the both the theory and practice behind various techniques.
An Introduction to Omics
Upcoming Dates
22 - 24th April 2026
- in person, Room 409, Boyd Orr Building.
9 - 11th September 2026
- online
9 - 11th December 2026
- in person, location TBC
Speakers
Gavin Blackburn, John Cole, Ronan Daly, Graham Hamilton, David McGuinness, Clement Regnault, Annabelle Smith
Description
A 3-day course aimed at familiarising participants with the basis and application of various omics disciplines. By the end of the course users should understand the basis of the various omics disciplines, the instrumentation used to generate high-throughput biological data and key applications. Participants will also be aware of the issues and rationale involved in choosing a particular technology and experimental design for their scientific question of interest, and appreciate the nature of other challenges in omics. The course will be taught in person.
The course will cover:
- Genomics, transcriptomics, single-cell and spatial omics – introducing core concepts, experimental workflows, and typical applications.
- Proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics – covering foundational principles, instrumentation, and data exploration.
- Experimental design and statistical omics data analysis – providing a guided overview of early-stage statistical data analysis for bulk RNA-seq, proteomics and metabolomics datasets. This will include differential comparison approaches and visualisation methods such as volcano plots, heatmaps and principal component analysis (PCA).
Course fee
£340
Cancellation policy
A refund will be issued if a booking is cancelled more than one week prior to the workshop.
Target group
Research students and staff who wish to deepen their understanding of high throughput data generation.
Registration and enquiries
Please provide a budget centre or PO number for the course fee and state which course you would like to register for.
Bioinformatics for Biologists
What is the format, when does it run?
The programme is self paced - you watch lectures in your own time and can begin tutorials on your own. However, the tutorials are supported every week via zoom drop-in clinics. At these, all day, weekly clinics there will be a team of demonstrators and bioinformaticians, who will answer any questions and support you with the tutorials. These run every Friday, 9:30am - 12:30pm & 1:30pm - 4:30pm on Zoom. You can use this in one of two ways:
- Structured: Aim to complete two teaching sessions a week by setting Fridays aside. Come to the clinic on a Friday and complete your first session in the morning and the second in the afternoon, whilst on the zoom. This way, if you get stuck we are immediately there to help.
- Unstructured: Work at your own pace throughout the week, and only come to drop-in clinic if you have specific questions or are stuck.
Description
Bioinformatics for Biologists is aimed at wet-lab biologists who have little or no previous experience of R or omics. It is 100% entry level - for beginners. It is highly practical and aims to equip wet-lab scientists with the skills and confidence to perform their own bioinformatic data analysis, for any dataset. The course is comprehensive, yet gently paced. The full programme is broken down into five courses. By registering you automatically get access to all five courses, via a central Moodle site. Each course is roughly 1 week in length, and includes lectures, lecture recordings, easy to follow workbooks and cheat code.
- Omic data analysis and visualisation using R
- Further omics, statistics and clinical data in R
- Single cell and spatial bioinformatics
- Essential command line bioinformatics and genomics
- Metagenomics
Course fee
£495
Target Group
Research students and staff who wish to deepen their understanding of high throughput data generation and analysis.
Registration and enquiries
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/yu0jhVi426
Image and Flow Data Analysis Workshops
Dates
18 - 22 May 2026
7 - 11 September 2026
Location
Day 1: Room 407, Rankine Building, Oakfield Avenue
Days2-5: Room 345, St Andrews Building, Eldon Street
Course Description
This hands‑on training series introduces participants to a range of widely used tools for fluorescence imaging, image analysis, and flow cytometry. Across the week, you’ll explore practical workflows, learn how to get the most from your data, and gain confidence in a set of approachable, research‑ready platforms. Each session is designed to be informative, friendly, and focused on real‑world use rather than theory alone. Please be aware you will need to bring your own laptop for this.
Day 1 – Introduction to Fluorescence (10:00–11:00)
A clear and accessible overview of how fluorescence works in practice covering key concepts, common pitfalls, and what really matters when capturing reliable images.
Day 1 – Fiji and Image Data (13:00–15:30)
A guided walk‑through of Fiji, including navigating the interface, organising image data, and carrying out core processing steps you’ll use again and again.
Day 2 – CellProfiler (10:00–12:30)
Learn how to create analysis pipelines in CellProfiler, automate repetitive tasks, and extract meaningful measurements from cell‑based images.
Day 3 – QuPath (10:00–12:30)
An introduction to working with digital pathology images in QuPath, from setting up annotations to performing basic quantification and exploring tissue‑scale datasets.
Day 4 – Flow Data Analysis (10:00–12:30)
A practical session on understanding and analysing flow cytometry data, including gating strategies, visualisation options, and tips for interpreting results with confidence.
Day 5 – Bring Your Own Data (10:30–12:00)
A chance to apply what you’ve learned to your own datasets with guidance on troubleshooting, refining workflows, and choosing the right tools for your research questions.
Trainers
Leandro Lembgruber Soares, Hannah Scales, Tyler Shaw, Anthony Dornan
Course Fee
£50 per module or £150 for all
Cancellation policy
A refund will be issued if a booking is cancelled more than one week prior to the workshop.
Registration and enquiries
Please provide a budget centre or PO number for the course fee and state which course you would like to register for.
Metabolomics Data Analysis Workshop
Upcoming Date
7-8 April 2026
Location
Room 223, Advanced Research Centre
Speakers
Gavin Blackburn, Erin Kerr
Description
Metabolomics can reveal rich biological insights, but getting meaningful answers starts with understanding how your data is generated: from the instruments that analyse your samples to the analytical pipeline that turns raw signals into biological stories.
In this course, you’ll get a practical, accessible introduction to metabolomics data analysis using the Shared Research Facilities’ online processing platform, MS Flow. We’ll explore how to interpret your data through both biological context and robust statistical approaches, how study design shapes your results, and how integrating meta-data can transform fragmented outputs into a complete, coherent picture.
If you want to get more from your metabolomics studies and develop the confidence to make informed analytical decisions, this course is for you.
Intended learning outcomes:
- To investigate the varied possibilities of metabolomics
- To learn the principals of data analysis in metabolomics
- To appreciate the checks and controls required to design a good metabolomics analysis pipeline across different software tools
- Statistical concepts in metabolomics
- To gain an understanding of what evidence is required to identify a metabolite in metabolomics
- To understand how to use prior knowledge in your system as well as biochemistry to interpret your data set
Course fee
£200
Registration and enquiries
Please provide a budget centre or PO number for the course fee and state which course you would like to register for.
Protein Production and Purification Workshop
Upcoming Dates
1 - 4 June 2026
31 August - 5 September 2026
Venue
Protein Lab, Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow
Trainer
Susan Kitson, Mads Gabrielsen
Description
In this hands-on workshop, you will work on the expression and purification of a protein in E. coli. You’ll explore how smart construct choices can dramatically improve the success of downstream purification, and you’ll learn practical strategies for driving robust protein overexpression in E. coli.
Throughout the course, you’ll gain a clear, applied understanding of key chromatographic principles and get real experience running purifications on AKTA systems—knowledge you can immediately translate into your own research. By the end, you will have purified a protein yourself and analysed it using SDS‑PAGE and spectrophotometry to assess quality and yield.
Most importantly, you’ll leave with the confidence and capability to carry out your own expression and purification workflows independently, empowering you to generate high‑quality protein in‑house for future projects
Day 1
· Introduction to protein production tutorial.
· Practical- making agar plates, transforming plasmid into bacteria and plating.
· Introduction to Protein Purification techniques, affinity, desalting, HIC, AIEX and SEC.
Day 2
· How to measure and assess protein.
· Practical-picking colonies and setting up a 10 mL test expression.
· Practical- Make buffers for purification and getting to know the AKTA system.
Day 3
· Practical – Perform test expression of uninduced and induced samples to examine on an SDS-PAGE gel.
· Practical – Lyse a pre-expressed pellet by French Press then perform affinity chromatography on the AKTA.
· Assess samples after affinity chromatography.
Day 4
· Pool fraction samples together for Desalting column.
· Final assessment of all purification steps.
Target Group
Those working on a MSc, PhD or post-doctoral research project that involves protein production. Technicians and technical specialists who would like to gain more of an understanding of this area, and who wants to expand or solidify their skill base. Anyone who would like to add these skills to their repertoire.
Course Fee
£700
Registration and enquiries
Please be aware that as this is hands-on practical workshop spaces are very limited.
Please provide a budget centre or PO number for the course fee and state which course you would like to register for.