Online Course:
Dates: June 30 - August 1, 2025
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Tuition: $2,000

Schedule:  Monday - Thursday 9:00am - 11:00am PST. Synchronous online teaching

This 10-week synchronous online course introduces the theory and practical applications of bioinformatics to genes and proteins.  The lecture/computer lab format is structured on bioinformatics primary scientific literature and utility of custom data sets emphasizing recent developments and analytical applications in genomics and proteomics. Course topics, supplemented by relevant biostatistical concepts and applications, include genomic and biomolecular bioinformatics resources and databases, advances in sequencing technologies, genome and structural informatics, phylogenetics and transcriptomics. Computational tools (using R programming language) and applications promoting best analytical practices will be emphasized.

• By the end of the course, student will be able to:
  • Establish a testable null and alternative hypothesis
  • Understand the experiments with adequate biological, technical replication and statistical power
  • Critically assess primary scientific literature focused on biostatistics and bioinformatics concepts
  • Perform gene finding and sequence alignments, DNA and Protein Database searching
  • Become familiar with the bioinformatics databases, including NCBI / EBI, PDB, UCSC Genome browser, DAVID Bioinformatics, and STRING protein network bioinformatics
  • Explore and visualize data and perform bioinformatic analysis, including principal component analysis (PCA) using R
  • Understand the high throughput sequencing methods and applications
  • Perform phylogenetic and hierarchical clustering analysis and quantify intra- and inter-species variation and estimate divergence
  • Analyze transcriptomics data using a RNASeq data set

Course Requirements / Eligibility: There is no textbook for this course. A familiarity with basic biological concepts is essential. No formal programming training or advanced mathematical skills are required. Students must have their own computers to access class material and utilize free bioinformatics software and data resources.  All course materials (lectures, computer labs, videos, science manuscript .pdf files and data sets, etc.) will be accessible via Canvas course website.  Students will also present a pre-approved bioinformatics topic of their choice during the last week of the course. Attendance is mandatory to successfully complete the course. All lecture and lab sessions will be recorded and made available asynchronously for review.

Prerequisites: High School AP Biology, Pre-Calculus.  Statistics preferred but not required.

Course is available for 4 pre-college units. 

Hybrid Course:
Dates: June 30 - August 1, 2025
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Tuition: $3,000
Schedule: There will be two available sections over the summer! A morning and an afternoon session. You will need to specify on your application which session you would like to join. Failure to do so will result in a rejected application. Synchronous online & in-person teaching.

• Morning session:
  • Mondays and Wednesdays online, 9:00am to 12:00pm PT, synchronous online teaching
  • Tuesdays and Thursdays in-person, 9:00am to 1:00pm PT, in research lab
• Afternoon session:
  • Mondays and Wednesdays in-person, 1:00pm-5:00pm PT, in research lab
  • Tuesdays and Thursdays online, 2:00pm-5:00pm PT, synchronous online teaching

Research Lab Location: 

Boz Life Science Research and Teaching Institute
La Jolla Cove Research Center
505 Coast S Blvd, Suite 301
La Jolla, CA 92037

Marine mammal physiology and overall health can be significantly affected by water quality and environmental exposures, particularly among animals that spend time in enclosed areas (non-open seas) for prolonged periods. Exposome (cumulative environmental exposure) can include diet, pathogens, and pollution such as persistent organic pollutants, which are known to have mutagenic, carcinogenic, and endocrine disruption properties. To better understand the effects of environmental exposures and potential health hazards to marine mammals (dolphins and sea lions), we will assess the water quality at sites of interest: animal pens, surrounding areas, and potential sources of pollution within the San Diego Bay. During the 5-weeks hybrid research course that meets four times per week – twice virtually, and twice in-person (lab) program, the novel Composite Integrative Passive Samplers (CIPS) will be deployed at the sites of interest. These sensors capture both water- and lipid-soluble chemicals and are used to characterize > 1,000 compounds, including many carcinogens, mutagens, and other persistent organic industrial pollutants. Besides sea water chemical profiling, we will measure standard sea water quality perimeters (pH, salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity/salinity) and collect bay mussels and oysters at the sites: their tissues will be used for the chemical content analysis and metagenomic sequencing, quantifying the presence of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other microbes. Pending our chemistry and microbiology results, several archived marine mammalian specimens – (blood, brain, and blubber), will be used for comparative chemical assessment to better understand effects of industrial chemicals on the health of marine mammals in San Diego Bay.

Learning Outcomes:

• By the end of the course, students will be able to:
  • Identify marine mammal species by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis
  • Develop testable scientific hypothesis and design a statistically relevant experiment
  • Critically assess primary scientific literature
  • Become familiar with molecular biology concepts including DNA and RNA structure, transcription, and gene expression quantification
  • Isolate and assess the quality of RNA and DNA
  • Analyze tissue-specific analytical chemistry data
  • Perform metagenomics sequencing (Nanopore)
  • Apply fundamental bioinformatics analysis to infer biological relevance
  • Design a scientific poster and present their findings in a formal science seminar setting

Course Topics:

• Marine mammal anatomy and physiology
• Micro-dissection of marine mammal and invertebrate tissues
• Genotype vs phenotype
• DNA vs RNA
• Analytical Chemistry – primary organic pollutants
• Microbiology
• Metagenomics
• Central dogma
• Experimental design
• Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
• Nanopore Sequencing
• Data analysis
• Science communication (written and oral)

Prerequisites: None

Course is available for 4 pre-college units.         

Course is commuter based, housing and transportation is not provided.