Friday 22 May 2026 9:30am
Research Informatics Training Room, Craik-Marshall Building
About
Date: Fri 22 May 2026
Time: 09:30 - 17:30
Location: Research Informatics Training Room, Craik-Marshall Building
♿ The training room is located on the first floor and there is currently no wheelchair or level access.
Participants can make use of the computers in the training room, unless otherwise advised. Instructions on specific system requirements and downloads will be provided when a booking is secured.
Please ensure you meet the target audience criteria and prerequisites before registering for a course.
Event Overview
This course will teach you how to use molecular data to construct and interpret phylogenies. We will start by introducing basic concepts in phylogenetic analysis, what trees represent and how to interpret them. We will then cover how to produce a multiple sequence alignment from DNA and protein sequences, and the pros and cons of different alignment algorithms. You will then learn about different methods of phylogenetic inference, with a particular focus on maximum likelihood and how to assess confidence in your tree using bootstrap resampling. Finally, we will introduce how Bayesian methods can help to estimate the uncertainty in the inferred tree parameters as well as incorporate information for more advanced/bespoke phylogenetic analysis.
How to book Target audience- This course is aimed at researchers with no prior experience in phylogenetic analysis who would like an introduction to the foundations of building phylogenies from relatively small sequences (viral genomes and/or targeted regions of eukaryotic genomes).
- Note that we will not cover specific topics in phylogenomics (whole-genome phylogenies) or bacterial genomics.
- Familiarity with the Unix command line is essential. We provide a self-assessment quiz, which you can use to check your suitability for this course. Otherwise, please make sure to attend our Unix course ahead of this course.
- Familiarity with basic concepts in evolution (descent from a common ancestor, sequence divergence due to mutations, natural selection).
- Basic experience of examining DNA/protein sequence data.
Fees must be paid at registration.
Free for registered University of Cambridge students
£ 65/full day for all University of Cambridge staff, including postdocs.
£ 65/full day for all academic participants from external Institutions and charitable organizations.
£ 130/full day for all Industry participants.
For further information about the courses, please email the Research Informatics Training Team.