This is a generic website containing teaching and learning materials used during our courses “Statistical Methods for Life Sciences” and “Machine Learning for Life Sciences”, as well as during our previous course “Introduction to biostatistics and machine learning” course. All these courses are organised by NBIS, National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden.

Statistical Methods for Life Sciences

The course is open for PhD students, postdocs, researchers and other employees in need of biostatistical skills within all Swedish universities. The materials are geared towards life scientists wanting to be able to understand and use basic statistical and machine learning methods.

The course is run via Canvas and is advertised via SciLifeLab training website and NBIS website.

The 2024 Canvas course is here: https://uppsala.instructure.com/courses/93277.

The 2025 Canvas course is here: https://uppsala.instructure.com/courses/98820

The 2026 Canvas course is here: https://uppsala.instructure.com/courses/119661


Course content
  • Probability, sampling, and distributions for biological data
  • Sampling variability and resampling
  • Multivariate data analysis: PCA and clustering
  • Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing
  • Linear models for continuous outcomes
  • Generalized linear models for binary and count data
  • Mixed-effects models for repeated or hierarchical data,
  • Survival analysis and time-to-event data

Course material can be found here or here.

Generic schedule

A typical schedule is under Schedule tab. Times and sessions may vary slightly from one course event to another.


Education

In this course we focus on an active learning approach. The course participants are expected to do some pre-course reading and exercises, corresponding up to 40h studying. The education consists of teaching blocks alternating between mini-lectures, group discussions, live coding sessions etc.


Entry requirements
  • Basic R programming skills
  • BYOL (bring your own laptop) with R and RStudio installed
  • No prior biostatistical knowledge is assumed


Selection criteria
  • The course can accommodate maximum of 25 participants. If we receive more applications, participants will be selected based on several criteria. Selection criteria include correct entry requirements, motivation to attend the course as well as gender and geographical balance.
  • NBIS prioritises academic participants (students, staff, affiliated researchers) in Sweden. We can accept participants from industry and/or outside Sweden if we have seats available and the requirements criteria are met.


Fees
  • Check Canvas website for the latest information.


Course credits

  • Upon successful course completion, assessed based on active participation in all course session, we will issue a course certificate.

  • Please note that we are not able to provide any formal university credits (högskolepoäng). Many universities, however, recognize the attendance in our courses, and award 1.5 HPs, corresponding to 40 h of studying. It is up to participants to clarify and arrange credit transfer with the relevant university department.


Machine Learning for Life Sciences

The 2025 Canvas course is here: https://uppsala.instructure.com/courses/110506

The 2026 Canvas course is here: https://uppsala.instructure.com/courses/122258

Teaching team


Contact us
  • edu.ml-biostats@nbis.se
  • olga.dethlefsen@nbis.se
  • eva.freyhult@nbis.se