These notes contain all the explanations and references corresponding to the course I delivered during the first CIMPA research school in Panama in October 2015 (see the complete program of the school here: http://cimpa. up.ac.pa/program.html).
The purpose of the course is to explain the essentials on Leavitt path algebras and then to determine the center of a Leavitt path algebra whose associated graph is row finite. We start by the very beginning of the theory of Leavitt path algebras and give the tools needed to understand the structure of the center. Finally, we give a taste of the work that has been done concerning the study of the Lie estructure of a Leavitt path algebra.
