Computational Bioinformatics Laboratory

Catalog description

The computational biology laboratory class will teach students how to properly use basic bioinformatics tools (including how to report the results), where to find high quality sequence data, and how to understand an interpret relevant peer-reviewed literature. Each semester the class will focus on a specific topic, such as animal sensory systems or coronavirus virulence. The lab includes a multidisciplinary gene and protein family analysis encompassing molecular evolution, structural biology, and biochemistry. Students will study proteins in the genome of the focus group, with an emphasis on the genomic architecture as well as the key proteins involved in specific functions. When students have gained basic bioinformatics skills, they will perform simple hypothesis testing using their own data. In groups, students will propose, execute, and present their research as a paper. Students will complete a final project as a paper. Graduate students in BIOL 430 will be required to write a complete manuscript with their own data. This course fulfills a laboratory requirement of the BA in Biology. This course fulfills an additional laboratory or quantitative laboratory requirement of the BS in Biology. Offered as BIOL 330 and BIOL 430 . Prereq: (Undergraduate Student and BIOL 214 ) or Requisites Not Met permission.