GMS 6181

Advanced Application of Bioinformatics in Genetic Research.

This is a special topic course designed for students who took GMS6014 and want to have more hands-on experience in applying bioinformatics and computational approaches to solve real research problems. Unlike GMS6014, knowledge of programming (i.e. a college level course in programming language or some programming experience) is required. In lieu of this requirement, a strong commitment to learn a programming language in parallel to this course must be demonstrated.

The course will span two modules(2-3) in the spring semester (2/14-4/18). Students will take a bioinformatics project pertinent to their research work (or assigned by the instructor) and develop it through the 10-week period. Examples of suitable projects include comparative analysis of sequences, automated data extraction and integration, modeling a biological process, etc. Class will meet ONCE every week on Monday 1-2:30 pm at ARB R4-256.

There will be two types of class meetings. The regular classes (6-7) will only be open to registered students. We will discuss the resource, strategy, planning, and development of the projects chosen by the participating student in a learn-from-peer environment. There also will be 3-4 open lectures to showcase bioinformatics related works on campus given by invited lecturers. The open lecture will consist of two parts. The first part is a seminar lecture on the research work of the invited speaker for about 40-45 minutes, followed by 10 minutes Q&A. This part will be OPEN to the public, i.e. student as well as faculty may be present. And we will advertise it to the whole HSC. The second part is intended to be a hands-on section of about 30 minutes. The invited lecturer will introduce the students to a tool or an application in his(her) field of expertise. The objective of this part is for the students to have a sense of what is available and what may be applied to their project.

The class is limited to a maximum of 6 students. In some of the meetings, a laptop computer with wireless card will be necessary for participating in discussion and sharing information.


Schedule

Date

/

Topic

2/14 / Organization, project preparation.
2/21 / Regular class / UF bioinformatics conference
2/28 / Regular class / sprint break
3/7 / Open lecture:Computational Neuroscience by Dr. Arunava Banerjee/CISE
3/14 / Regular class
3/21 / Open Lecture: Pathway Simulation and Analysis by Dr. Tuba Yavuz/CISE
3/28 / Open Lecture: TBA by Dr. Michael Baudis
4/4 / Regular class
4/11 / Open Lecture: Genetic Mapping of Biological Processes / SNP-based Linkage Disequilibrium Analyses by Dr. Rongling Wu/Statistics
4/18 / End of semester presentation