BB 4001/BCB 4001: Bioinformatics

In an age when the amount of new biological data generated each year is exploding, it has become essential to use bioinformatics tools to explore biological questions. This class will provide an understanding of how we organize, catalog, analyze, and compare biological data across whole genomes, covering a broad selection of important databases and techniques. Students will acquire a working knowledge of bioinformatics applications through hands-on use of software to ask and answer biological questions in such areas as genetic sequence and protein structure comparisons, phylogenetic tree analysis, and gene expression and biological pathway analysis. In addition, the course will provide students with an introduction to some of the theory underlying the software (for example, how alignments are made and scored). This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter.