Download Bioinformatics_Curriculum1 - BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium

Bioinformatics Curriculum
Issues, goals, curriculum
Issues
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How much do we rely on canned software vs.
how much programming should students do?
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What type of canned software?
What type of “language”?
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Perl
Visual Basic
Matlab
Excel
Do biologists need database training?
Issues…
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How much do we expect biologists to become
programmers or programmers to become
biologists?
How much biology should be included in the
course?
How does one find “good” data?
What is the target audience?
The answer to these questions depends upon
the purpose of the class
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Make biologists become programmers
Make programmers become biologists
Provide biologists with education in tool
selection and training (here’s what the tools
do and how to use them properly)
Teach biologists and computer scientists to
collaborate effectively
Goals: Students should be able to…
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Find an interesting question
Develop a hypothesis
Test it using appropriate tools
Analyze the results
Validate the results
Be able to effectively communicate results
The Topics (or units)
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Biology Fundamentals?
Programming Fundamentals?
Data resources
Phylogenetic Analysis
Sequence alignments and searches
Microarray Analysis
DNA Analysis
Protein Analysis