Containers and Workflow Pipelines for reproducible and automated data analysis

advanced bioinformatics
live training

Containers and Workflow Pipelines for reproducible and automated data analysis

Target Audience:
All VIB staff
Location:

Ghent

General context

POSTPONED! This course will be postponed to a later date. The participants will be noticed of further changes.

This two day course is organized jointly by the Bioinformatics core facility of the Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain and ELIXIR Belgium.  

The first day is dedicated to Linux Containers (Docker & Singularity) which are great tools for code portability and analysis reproducibility. You will learn how to build a container from scratch, share it with others and how to re-use and modify existing containers. 

On the second day, you will learn how to use Nextflow for building scalable and reproducible bioinformatics pipelines and running them on a personal computer, cluster and cloud. 

 

Objectives

Containers

  • Learn the concept of and the difference between Docker & Singularity containers 
  • Write a Docker recipe, build and run a Docker image and containers
  • Pull and push Docker container to / from Docker hub
  • Docker files and layers; Docker cashing
  • Working with volumes
  • Pull Docker containers as a Singularity image

Pipelines

  • Understand Nextflow's basic concepts: processes, channels, ...
  • Write and run a Nextflow pipeline (using a Singularity containers)
Event intended for

Bioinformaticians with no or little knowledge of containers or workflow pipelines. 

Required skills

You're familiar with doing bioinformatics on the command-line. 

Program

Docker Containers
-
Introduction to containers
-
  • History of containers, what are containers and why should we use them? 
  • Containers vs. virtual machines
Singularity Containers
-
  • Differences between Singularity and Docker: why and when to use one or the other. Pros and cons.
  • Singularity recipes
  • Building a basic Singularity image
  • Pull and run an image with Singularity from Docker hub
  • Volumes in Singularity
  • Use a Singularity image interactively
Nextflow pipelines
-
  • Run a simple Nextflow pipeline & obtain a thorough understanding of config and pipeline files
  • Modifying a pipeline and rerun processes
  • Theoretic approach to processes, channels and operators; the basics of Nextflow
  • Write and run a simple Nextflow pipeline (e.g. print text, process a simple calculation)
  • Including Singularity containers in Nextflow pipelines

Practical info

Location & Venue

11 May 2020 - 12 May 2020

Ghent - Clemenspoort

Overwale 3
9000 Ghent
Belgium

Public transport

11 May 2020 - 12 May 2020

Ghent - Clemenspoort
Public transport

The train station Ghent St-Pieters is only 250 m away. We have 40 bike lots.

Route description

11 May 2020 - 12 May 2020

Ghent - Clemenspoort
Parking

We offer parking lots (1.20 € per hour). GPS address: Sint-Denijslaan 251.
Please take the neem the exit SPORTHAL HoGent (not Campus HoGent) and drive all the way to the end, so past the parking slots of HoGent.

Venue contact

11 May 2020 - 12 May 2020

Ghent - Clemenspoort
Location contact

+32 476 46 10 40

info@clemenspoort.be