Topic outline

  • General

    Machine learning is one of the cornerstone technologies in bioinformatics, used in numerous tools and applications. This course probes the state of the art in selected machine learning problems and the associated methods in bioinformatics, through introductory lectures and student's own oral and written presentations in selected topics.


    Intended audience and prerequisite knowledge

    The course is mainly targeted to MSc and PhD students in bioinformatics, machine learning and data science.

    The prerequisite knowledge includes:

    • Required prerequisites: Basic knowledge in data analysis/machine learning
    • Recommended prerequisites: Basic knowledge in bioinformatics
     

    Organization of the course

    The course is organised online. The lectures will take place at zoom (https://aalto.zoom.us/j/69732499335) and assignments will be completed online at Mycourses.

    Course personnel:

    •  Teacher in charge: Prof. Juho Rousu
    • Teaching assistant: Eric Bach
    • Guest lecturers: Esa Pitkänen, Vikas Garg, Ville Mustonen


    Course components 

    The course is completed by the following components:

    • Following the lectures and student presentations (1 absence allowed, further absences can be paid by completing extra peer reviews)
    • Learning diaries from introductory lectures (required component, graded pass/fail)
    • Oral presentation of a scientific paper:  (graded 1-5, weight 33%)
    • Seminar report (graded 1-5, weight 67%): a survey summarizing existing scientific papers on a topic. Own research/experiments are not necessary but are allowed.
    • Opponent duty (required component, graded pass/fail):

      • Acting as opponent of two presentations (prepare to ask questions regarding the presentation topic)
      • Peer review of two reports 

    Schedule

    • Introductory lectures: 5.3., 12.3., 19.3., 26.3., 9.4.2021
      • Learning diaries needs to be submitted until the next Thursday (Midnight) after the lecture.
    • Paper selection for oral presentation and report topic:
      • Opens: 26.3.2021
      • Closes (Deadline): 30.3.2021
    • Oral presentations by students: 23.4 - 28.5.2021
      • 5 minutes spotlight talks + 2 minutes questions
      • Presentation slides of each talk to be submitted by midnight the previous day to the talk 
    • Intermediary report submission deadline: 13.5.2021
    • Peer review report submission deadline: 20.5.2021
    • Final report submission deadline: 4.6.2021