BIOL4536 - Introduction to Computational Biology & Biological Modeling

The goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of techniques and concepts used in Computational Biology. Both theoretical and practical aspects of a range of methods will be covered. Theoretical aspects will include statistical analysis, modeling, and algorithm design. This course cannot provide a comprehensive survey of the field but focuses on a select core set of topics and data types. We will discuss the genome browser, alignment algorithms, classical and non-parametric statistics, pathway analysis, dimensionality reduction, GWAS, multiple testing and machine learning, with primary focus on biomedical data. UNIX, R and Python will be utilized to learn to execute big data analysis pipelines, including RNA-Seq and DNA-Seq. UNIX and R will be taught from first principles but programming experience in Python is expected. Students without prior experience with Python should consider taking PHYS 1100 before taking this class. You will be provided with a computational (cloud based) platform on which to do all programming and assignments.