Participants in the first NSU's online course tought in English "From Disease to Genes and Back" learn how genetics and genomics can be used to study biology of human disease, and how this knowledge can be used back in the clinics.
The new course is the result of cooperation between scientists from three universities: NSU, University of Liège (GIGA) and University of Leuven (Belgium), and the Dutch research company PolyOmica, that develops software and statistical solutions for data analytics in the biological and biomedical sciences. Five researchers describe current approaches for finding genes responsible for different diseases and how this information is used to better understand and fight these diseases.
NSU courses in Russian are popular and traditionally receive the highest grades. However, so far the Russian-language segment of Coursera is not very large, it comprises only about 3% of the total audience which now includes more than 29 million students. The NSU English-language course will certainly increase the number of our online students and introduce the University to an international audience. It should be said that the Russian-language courses we launched earlier were not exclusively local. The geography of our audience includes more than 100 countries. Students who do not speak Russian also look at our courses and try to translate them on their own while they wait for them in English. We simply could not ignore the demand.
The course "From Disease to Genes and Back" is targeted at students of biology and medicine as well as professionals working in these fields. However, the course will be useful to anyone interested in genetics and who wants to understand the nature of genetic diseases. During the 6-week course, students will learn about organisation of the human genome and the mechanisms contributing to the genome variability, which genes underlie various diseases and how researchers in the modern world study genomes, work with genomic data and diagnose many known diseases on the basis of knowledge of genetics.
The course includes video lectures, discussions, additional materials for reading and viewing; there are tests for every lecture and at the end of every week. By the end of the course, a students will be able to complete a practical assignment that will ask them to discuss how new technologies has and will transform genetics and genomics, what may be the ways to proceed from statistical findings to biological knowledge, and from scientific research to personalised health care.
Course materials are free of charge.
You can start learning any time. The course is conducted on the cohort mode so every 4 weeks a new group (cohort) of students begin their lessons. You can join the first cohort of course participants before December 3. To enroll in the course, you need to go to: https://www.coursera.org/learn/disease-genes#
