Hi, I unfortunately cannot apply to a FT residency program as I have a FT job (as I suspect most people here do).<p>However, I do have an interest in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology. Unfortunately, I find that most textbooks that cover these topics are very theoretical, e.g., going over how Blast algorithm works, explanations of NGS assembly and annotation.<p>I'm curious any peeps in the field have any simple learning projects/practical papers for a programmer interested in Bioinformatics?<p>Things I'm thinking of are, (would like to hear from the experts any hints, tips or links):<p>1) Downloading a GWAS (Genome Wide Association) data-set for a psychiatric or cancer disease and replicating the statistical techniques that scientists used to determine the clusters of responsible genes (e.g., <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7510/full/nature13595.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7510/full/nature1...</a>)<p>2) Downloading different strains of Cannabis Indica and Sativa genome draft assemblies; running initial phylenlogy tree and run genome annotation pipelines to identify known genes; and using RNASeq data to isolate the potencies of different varieties of Cannabis and metabolic pathways to produce hemp (e.g., <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359589/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359589/</a>)<p>3) Downloading data-set of RNASeq data from synthetic biology experiments involving yeast and replicating the statistical technique that authors used to determine the gene regulators/promoters used to program the cells to produce plastic, fuel and drugs for them! (<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7086/full/nature04640.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7086/full/nature0...</a>)
It seems a little unusual to see a "residency" which makes you pay for housing ($2400 / month).<p>Is it unfair to assume they're having trouble paying rent at the Topos house?