Program Overview

Introduction to mixOmics R Essentials for Biological Data Integration

The mixOmics R Essentials for Biological Data Integration short course provides essential tools and knowledge to analyze complex biological data. This course is designed to help researchers gain a holistic understanding of biological systems by statistically integrating layers of molecular information.

What You Will Learn

Gain contemporary skills and knowledge in:

• Large biological data analysis
• Statistical data analysis for complex biological data using the mixOmics R toolkit
• Data exploration, integration, and interpretation
• Evaluating the appropriateness of different data integration methods for a given biological question
• Interpreting the outputs of each method
• Understanding key concepts in multivariate methods
• Applying statistical and dimension reduction methods for high-throughput biological data
• Using the mixOmics R package through detailed case studies and hands-on applications

Who You Will Learn From

The course is developed and taught by leading researcher, Professor Kim-Anh Lę Cao, Professor in Statistical Genomics, School of Mathematics and Statistics. Professor Lę Cao has a background in mathematical engineering and has worked as a biostatistician consultant and research group leader. She leads the mixOmics team and focuses on developing computational and statistical methods for biological data.

Fees

The course fees are as follows:

• For Research Higher Degree students enrolled in a University: $550 AUD (incl. GST)
• For Staff and members from Universities & Not-for-profit organisations: $900 AUD (incl. GST)
• General fee: $1450.00 AUD (inc GST)

Dates

The course starts on 23 February 2026 and runs for 6 weeks.

Course Details

Who is it for?

This course is ideal for:

• Life scientists
• Researchers from a wide range of scientific disciplines
• Biologists
• Microbiologists
• Computational biologists
• Bioinformaticians
• Research postgraduate students in biomedical and bioscience
• Data analysts

Relevance to Your Job and Industry

The mixOmics R Essentials for Biological Data Integration short course provides immediately applicable skills and knowledge, including a suite of tools to analyze complex biological data in the real world. You will gain skillsets to work at the interface and provide critical collaborative expertise to biologists, bioinformaticians, statisticians, and clinicians.

Key Topics

The course is divided into three modules, covering:

• The basics of multivariate analysis in modern high-throughput biology
• Key computational and analytical aspects of the methods
• Guided case study tutorials for each of the six methods presented

Skills and Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the concepts of biological data integration
• Evaluate the appropriateness of a data integration method for a given biological question
• Apply the relevant method to a biological data set
• Interpret the outputs of each method, including assessing the performance of the method
• Analytical skills using R
• Analysis of complex biological data
• Critical thinking in statistical analysis
• Ability to mine large data sets
• Knowledge on how to statistically integrate biological data sets

Workload and Assessment

This short course runs over 6 weeks with an approximate time commitment of 40 hours of online study. There is no formal assessment, but participants will engage in formative quizzes and a final peer-reviewed assignment to analyze their own data or other provided data.