Summary

Over the last fifty years, many fundamental biological processes have been examined at the molecular level. From this point of view, a central challenge for scientists is to correctly analyze and interpret this data. Due to either the unreliability and/or sheer amount of the data that is gathered, scientists have been turning to computational methods (i.e. software) for assistance. In this course, we will study several core areas in computational biology, with a focus on understanding why and how engineering and computational methods are applied to real-world biological questions.

Semester Topics

1. Overview of Molecular Genetics
2. Genetic Sequencing
3. The Human Genome Project
4. Overview of Protein Structure and Function
5. Models of Protein Structure
6. Algorithms for Protein Structure Determination and Prediction
7. Algorithms for Phylogenetic Analysis

Meeting Time/Place

Textbook & References

An Introduction to Protein Bioinformatics. Neil C. Jones and Pavel A. Pevzner. MIT Press, 2004, ISBN 0-262-10106-8.
(Recommended for further reference.)

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