Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

The human Genome is both the chef and the chef's recipe for building a human body. Three interrelated fields of study help understand this recipe. Genomics is the study of all of the genes of organisms. Bioinformatics is the interdisciplinary field that uses the techniques of statistics and computer science to interpret this genetic recipe and its protein products. And finally, Systems Biology looks at how the dynamic network interaction of genes and proteins give rise to the behavior of the system as a whole. Students will utilize online resources to understand how genome-scale information (e.g., DNA sequences, genome variations, microarrays, proteomics, and clinical studies) can provide a systems biology perspective. This course is aimed at making biological inferences from national repositories of biology information. Students will use the Perl programming language, cutting-edge databases, and open-source bioinformatics tools to visualize data and post their analyses online. This course also counts toward the biology major and the biochemistry major. (CHEM 0104 or CHEM 0107 and BIOL 0145 or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect., 3 hrs. lab.