BPS542 Bioinformatics I

August 16, 2013
Credits   3 credits
Coordinator/Primary Instructor    
     
Catalog Description   Integrates computing, statistical, and biological sciences, algorithms, and data analysis/management. Multidisciplinary student research teams. Modeling dynamic biological processes. Extra project work for 4 credits. (Lec. 3, Project 3) Pre: major in a computing, statistical, or biological science or permission of instructor.
Estimated Enrollment   10

Detailed Course Description

Bioinformatics I is a cross-disciplinary course, taken by biologists, computer scientists, and statisticians with an interest in the emerging technologies, tools and software necessary for understanding and creating meaning from the tremendous amounts of data now available describing biological systems.

Activities/Class format

The class consists of didactic lectures on basic principles of modern bioinformatics, invited lectures from experts in the field, and on facilitation of semester-long group projects. Over the course of the semester, students will work in small 2-3 person groups on a novel bioinformatics project, with a goal of producing publication-quality original research. Grading is based upon group projects, homework, and classroom participation.

Learning Objectives

  • Help students to tackle emerging bioinformatics research problems in Rhode Island. These are to include such computational domains as data mining (for example genomic, proteomic and bio-imaging data), algorithms, statistical methods, visualization, data exchange, and data security.
  • Cover introductory computational molecular biology, computer science, and statistics material to inform the biologists to statistical and computing techniques, and the computer scientists and statisticians to biological techniques as appropriate to support the problems that are assigned to the student teams.
  • Learn to use a set of bioinformatics software tools, such as those available and supported by the departments of biomedical & pharmaceutical sciences (see https://www.uri.edu/inbre/bioinfo/) & cell and molecular biology (https://www.uri.edu/research/gsc/)