In this course, you will follow in the footsteps of the bioinformaticians investigating the COVID-19 outbreak by assembling the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Whether you’re new to the world of computational biology, or you’re a bioinformatics expert seeking to learn about its applications in the COVID-19 pandemic, or somewhere in between, this course is for you! As you go through this journey, we will introduce and explain genomic concepts and give you many opportunities to practice your skills, and we will provide a series of problems with gradually increasing complexity. This first course will only discuss the assembly of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, but future courses in this series will explore follow-up bioinformatics analyses used in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hacking COVID-19 — Course 1: Identifying a Deadly Pathogen
This course is part of Applied Bioinformatics Specialization
Instructors: Mikhail Rayko
4,220 already enrolled
Included with 
(50 reviews)
Recommended experience
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
Add to your LinkedIn profile
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV
Share it on social media and in your performance review
There are 2 modules in this course
In Chapter 1, we will first travel back in time to learn about the history of the SARS outbreak of 2003. Next, we will travel to late 2019 to learn about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, a novel virus that wreaked havoc upon the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, we will explore the biology behind this mysterious virus as we take our first steps towards Hacking COVID-19.
What's included
2 videos1 reading1 app item
In Chapter 2, we will learn about how modern technologies are able to sequence DNA in small chunks. Next, we will learn how to use SPAdes, a popular genome assembly tool, to reconstruct the SARS-CoV-2 genome from small fragments. Lastly, we will learn how to use QUAST to assess the quality of our assembled SARS-CoV-2 genome.
What's included
1 video1 reading1 app item
Instructors
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Health Informatics
University of Copenhagen
University of Geneva
Johns Hopkins University
Imperial College London
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Learner reviews
50 reviews
- 5 stars
74.50%
- 4 stars
13.72%
- 3 stars
3.92%
- 2 stars
1.96%
- 1 star
5.88%
Showing 3 of 50
Reviewed on Feb 5, 2021
GAVE ME A NEW LEARNING PERSPECTIVE ON BIOINFORMATICS
Reviewed on Sep 30, 2021
A very organized and systematic way of delivering the course. Special thanks to Dr. Niema Moshiri for guiding me through my doubts. Looking forward in doing the second course of this series as well!
Reviewed on Feb 20, 2022
I loved this course, it was challenging what I love and I learned so many new things. Besides that the course is very interesting and well structured
New to Health Informatics? Start here.
Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.