“Code of Life” Course


Event Details


Welcome to the class: we are very excited that you are interested in learning more about the foundations of life. In this openHPI course, we will give an introduction about components of human cells and their functions. We dive into the cell core to explore the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), its structure, and how it stores the code of life. Furthermore, we will explore how to discover genetic variants and mutations and how to assess their impact on the cell functions and the whole human body. Ultimately, we will outline how individual genetic variants can be connected to complex diseases, such as cancer. Just two decades ago, all these tasks would have been impossible due to missing knowledge about the DNA and a lack of computational power. As a result, you will learn basic concepts about how to incorporate latest computer science aspects to explore the code of life interactively.

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About Matthieu-P. Schapranow

Dr.-Ing. Matthieu-P. Schapranow is Leader of the Working Group "In-Memory Computing for Digital Health" and Scientific Manager Digital Health Innovations at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI). He is a valued member of the Platform Learning Systems and contributes to the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. Dr.-Ing. Schapranow holds a PhD as well as the MSc and BSc degrees in Software Engineering. He was named as one of the top Elite Researchers in Life Sciences in 2016 and one of Germany's Top 10 Junior Scientists in 2015. Furthermore, he was honored with the Personalized Medicine Convention Award 2015, the European Life Science Award in 2014, and the Innovation Award of the German Capital Region in 2012. Together with Prof. Dr. Plattner, he published the textbook "High-Performance In-Memory Genome Data Analysis" in 2013.