Computational Biology - Computational Biology I

Catalog description

First semester of a two-semester course in bioinformatics and computational biology. Topics include basic concepts of bioinformatics and molecular modeling, bioinformatics databases, computational tools and modeling methods, protein sequence and structure alignment, conformational analysis, secondary structure determination, tertiary structure modeling (homology, threading, ab initio, protein folding and dynamics), networks, data mining and machine learning, as well as student presentations of material from current papers in the field of study and their own on-going research for discussion and critique. Students will also learn responsible scholarship, including allocation of credit, treatment of data, scientific misconduct, collaborative research, and mentor/trainee responsibilities. Prerequisite: College introductory biochemistry (no requirement for specific courses), math, and computer courses or concurrent enrollment in such courses and consent of instructor.