Online tutorial

Human genetic variation

Exploring publicly available data

Time to complete:

2 hours

This course includes:

  • Activities
  • Videos

Written by:

  • David Armstrong
  • Melissa Burke
  • Laura Emery
  • Jackie McArthur
  • Andrew Nightingale
  • Emily Perry
  • Sangya Pundir
  • Gary Saunders

Last reviewed:

February 2024


Creative Commons

All materials are free cultural works licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, except where further licensing details are provided.


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Genetic variation is fundamental to the evolution of all species and is what makes us individuals. Our genes have a large influence on our lives. They affect what we look like, our personalities and preferences and our susceptibility to disease. By studying genetic variation we hope to understand the molecular processes that contribute to life on earth.

Feedback and help

Who is this course for?

The courses focus on heritable (germline) variation and will give you a taste of the resources you can use to explore genetic variation data. An undergraduate knowledge of biology would be an advantage.

This is part II of our course on human genetic variation. Part I of the course introduces some key concepts in the field of human genetic variation including the types and possible effects of genetic variation, data formats and look common genetic variation study types. If you are new to the field we recommend that you work through part I of this course first.

What will I achieve?

By the end of the course you will be able to:

  • List examples of genetic variation databases
  • Describe the type of data found in different genetic variation databases
  • Explore genetic variation data within publicly available resources

What resources do I need?

There are no specific resources required to complete this course.

DOI: 10.6019/TOL.HuGenVar_2-t.2017.00001.1