BIOS 599 - Bioinformatics for Biologists - Spring 2004

Bioinformatics for Biologists is an introduction to theory and methods used for genome-level sequence analysis. The course is designed to provide biologists a set of tools and the perspective & skills to use them. The goal is for the student, at the end of the semester, to be able to have new insights into their own research. This will be accomplished through:

1. An overview of the fundamentals of bioinformatics, with an emphasis on usage (“How do I use Unix?”), development (“Who makes these tools? How did they do it?”), and evaluation (“How do I know which one works best for what I want to do?”)
2. A survey of bioinformatics tools, with an emphasis on tools for comparative genomics, including major stand-alone tools (e.g., BLAST and HMMer) and suites of tools (e.g., iNquiry and Vector NTI)
3. A survey of genome-related databases, with an emphasis of understanding how the data are generated & formatted and what their potential uses are
4. Hands on experience – using bioinformatics tools to mine data.

• Complete Syllabus
• Course Schedule
• Semester Project and Other Materials