Online tutorial on survival analysis for biomarker discovery

Kokošar, Jaka (author), Praznik, Ela (author), Špendl, Martin (author), Moreno, Nancy P. (author), Newel, Alana (author), Shaulsky, Gad (author), Zupan, Blaž (author)

In biomedicine, survival analysis addresses time-to-event data to study outcomes like patient survival and treatment response, and supports biomarker discovery. Yet, teaching this analysis is often hindered by mathematical and programming barriers. We present a structured, hands-on tutorial that goes beyond a typical online guide—offering integrated video lectures, literature, quizzes, and practical exercises. Built around Orange Data Mining, an open and free no-code visual analytics platform, the tutorial covers key concepts such as censoring, Kaplan-Meier curves, group comparisons, and biomarker discovery through real-world datasets. Organized in four pedagogical units, it progresses from basic survival data analysis to gene and gene-set biomarker discovery. Designed for 2–3 hours of learning, it supports both individual study and classroom use, and was successfully tested with over 120 participants.

• Language: English
• Keywords: survival analysis, biomarker discovery, Kaplan-Meier curve, censoring, education and training
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FRI - Faculty of Computer and Information Science
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 11 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 22, no. 3, art. e1014046
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181157
• UDC: 004:57
• ISSN on article: 1553-734X
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014046
• COBISS.SI-ID: 273082371
• Publication date in RUL: 26.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: PLoS computational biology
• Shortened title: PLOS comput. biol.
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1553-734X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 512883993

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: analiza preživetja, odkrivanje biomarkerjev, Kaplan-Meierjeva krivulja, cenzuriranje podatkov, izobraževanje in usposabljanje