how to start

Question

[raychmuthoni]

i am a student in gynaecologic oncology and was requesting assistance on how to start on bioinformatics as i am very new to this field

Answer 1

[Joe]

General advice is:

1. Have a question (that can be solved bioinformatically).
2. Just get stuck in. You'll learn as you go (and can read papers, ask on the forum etc for specific advice).

It will almost certainly feel overwhelming at first, but that's normal.

[ATpoint]

3) Learn to use search engines and LLMs. Most questions have been asked before, including this one. Lots of help online if you only go look for it.

Answer 2

[yura.grabovska]

• Get some data - either your own or from a paper / GEO / ArrayExpress / SRA / TCGA / cBioPortal etc etc.
• Look at the methods of papers relevant to your field/targetted method and try and copy what they're doing
• Google your question, eg: "RNASeq Differential expression analysis tools"
• Every package / library / piece of software has a tutorial or vignette giving basic examples of use
• Plenty of tutorials online/YouTube for running specific pipelines or methods
• Use LLM (with caution and specifically telling it to explain to you what the steps are doing and why they are there so you can learn, vibe coding isn't going to help here)
• Google specific error messages you receive
• Ask specific questions on forums, eg: not "How do i do analyse RNASeq data" but "I have raw gene counts and want do do differential expression analysis, what software do I use"

* Ask a human near you - if you are a student you are studying in an institution and that institution will have people who already know how to do this, those people can / are happy to be contacted and help.

Answer 3

[shelkmike]

I would recommend, in the following order:
1) Go through Bioinformatics Algorithms, either as a video course or as a book, and do all exercises provided there (https://www.bioinformaticsalgorithms.org/).
2) Go through BioStar Handbook, also doing all exercises provided there (https://www.biostarhandbook.com/).

The first will help you understand the theory, the second will help with the practical part. These two things together will require, I think, approximately 300 hours.
I would say that this is enough to consider yourself knowledgeable about basic bioinformatics.

[shelkmike]

If you want to save time at the cost of having a lesser understanding of how bioinformatic programs work, you may study through the BioStar Handbook only.