Program Overview

Professional Certificate in Data Analysis for Life Sciences

The Professional Certificate in Data Analysis for Life Sciences is a HarvardX professional certificate program designed to equip learners with the necessary skills and knowledge to analyze data in the life sciences.

Program Overview

This program consists of 4 courses and can be completed in 4 months. It is taught by Rafael Irizarry from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

What You'll Learn

Technological advances have transformed fields that rely on data by providing a wealth of information ready to be analyzed. From working with single genes to comparing entire genomes, biomedical research groups around the world are producing more data than they can handle, and the ability to interpret this information is a key skill for any practitioner. The skills necessary to work with these massive datasets are in high demand, and this series will help you learn those skills. Using the open-source R programming language, you’ll gain a nuanced understanding of the tools required to work with complex life sciences and genomics data. You’ll learn the mathematical concepts — and the data analytics techniques — that you need to drive data-driven research. From a strong foundation in statistics to specialized R programming skills, this series will lead you through the data analytics landscape step-by-step.

Courses

• Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra: 2-4 hours per week
  • Learn more about linear models and matrix algebra
• Statistics and R: 2-4 hours per week
  • Learn more about statistics and R programming
• Statistical Inference and Modeling for High-throughput Experiments: 2-4 hours per week
  • Learn more about statistical inference and modeling
• High-Dimensional Data Analysis: 2-4 hours per week
  • Learn more about high-dimensional data analysis

Program Outcomes

After completing the series, learners will understand:

• Basic statistical concepts and R programming skills for analyzing data in the life sciences
• The underlying math of linear models useful for data analysis in the life sciences
• The techniques used to perform statistical inference on high-throughput and high-dimensional data
• Several techniques widely used in the analysis of high-dimensional data

Industry Insights

R is listed as a required skill in 64% of data science job postings and was Glassdoor’s Best Job in America in 2016 and 2017. Companies are leveraging the power of data analysis to drive innovation. Google data analysts use R to track trends in ad pricing and illuminate patterns in search data. Pfizer created customized packages for R so scientists can manipulate their own data. 32% of full-time data scientists started learning machine learning or data science through a MOOC, while 27% were self-taught. Data Scientists are few in number and high in demand.