On Bioinformatics Workflow Design

Posted on Fri 26 April 2024 in commentary • Tagged with workflows

Since I was in grad school I've been writing bioinformatics workflows. Usually to process NGS data. The concept of a workflow is simple, and not limited to the domain of bioinformatics. However, a workflow (aka "pipeline") used to analyze data from next generation sequencing (again, will it ever be "current …


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Just Write Your Own Python Parsers for .fastq Files

Posted on Thu 22 August 2019 in commentary • Tagged with bioinformatics, python, workflows

In contrast to the zen of python there are actually many ways to handle sequence data in Python. There are several packages on PyPI that provide parsers for sequence formats like .fastq and .fasta. I've never bothered with these, including the oft-used Biopython. I vaguely remembered Biopython being slower than …


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The Snakemake Tutorial I Wish I Had

Posted on Mon 19 August 2019 in how-to • Tagged with bioinformatics, python, workflows, snakemake

Over the past few years the use of workflow managers in genomics and bioinformatics has grown greatly. This is a great thing for the field and adds to our ability to perform reproducible analyses, especially for pipelines with many steps. These are common in bioinformatics, but prior to the use …


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Suggestions for Reproducible Bioinformatic Analyses

Posted on Fri 09 August 2019 in commentary • Tagged with bioinformatics, thoughts, workflows

Bioinformatic analyses often require lengthy workflows or pipleines, where the output of program A feeds into program B, and so on. These programs may also not output their results in a format which is convenient to use in the subsequent steps, requiring writing a conversion script, or piping its output …


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Variations on RNAseq Workflows for DEG Analysis

Posted on Tue 09 July 2019 in commentary • Tagged with bioinformatics, thoughts, rnaseq, workflows

When analyzing RNAseq you're faced with many possible analysis pipelines. The biggest decision you need to make is what the purpose of your experiment is. I will make the assumption that most of the time people want to determine which genes are differentially expressed between two samples, genotypes, conditions, etc …


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