Introduction to Bioinformatics

Catalog description

This course is designed as an introductory course in bioinformatics for undergraduate students in Biology or Bioengin.. Students are expected to have a fundamental background in either molecular biology and statistics. Basic programming skills necessary to execute the course materials will be provided during the course. Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary field that leverages statistics and computational tools to interpret large amounts of biological data generated using modern high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies. The main focus of this course is for students to gain familiarity with bioinformatics tools, methods, and best practices. This course will cover the fundamental concepts of command-line programming in Unix and R, enabling students to utilize high-performance computing resources effectively. Through this class, students will gain practical experience with essential bioinformatics tools, including databases, genome assembly and mapping, phylogenetic tree generation, dimensionality reduction, clustering, and network analysis. They will learn how to organize and document their computational projects, troubleshoot errors, and test their code. Additionally, students will engage with primary literature on some of the most significant bioinformatics projects to date. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of bioinformatics methods and the foundational tools needed to explore these methods in greater depth.