Bérénice Benayoun, assistant professor of gerontology and biological sciences, says biologists should not be afraid of big data. She’s designed a new master’s level course, GERO 516 – Introduction to Genomic Science for Biologists to help scientists with no previous programming experience learn to use the cutting-edge tools behind most biomedical advances today.
Watch this video or read on to hear what she has to say.
“What I want people to realize is I can take you from not knowing anything about genomics to being able to contribute to cutting edge research. Most big studies that are published are going to have some aspect of Omics – most of them – and it’s getting more and more because it allows you to look at things that you didn’t even know might be relevant…if you know what the genome looks like, then you can go and edit it and correct potential issues, prevent disease. It also helps people make adjustments. And that’s why it’s called personalized medicine because you’re using that information, that blueprint, to help inform health decisions, healthcare decisions.
As you have to learn pipetting to work in a lab, you need to learn how to play with data and how data looks like what type of data exists…if you give me those 15 weeks, I can get you there.”
Visit the USC Course Catalogue to learn more about this graduate level course.
