Bioinformatics, the finding of patterns in very large sets of biological data, has grown very rapidly over the past few decades. In this unit the aim will be to provide an introduction to the main data sources, techniques and software which make up the area. The unit does not assume knowledge of biology, so begins by providing an introduction to the central biological ideas. It progresses in a natural way, stepping from DNA to evolution and phylogenetics and thence to RNA and microarrays, exploring key ideas at each stage; all work is directed at an understanding of biological systems. Web-based resources will be explored and used to provide data sets, and the statistical package R... -- Course Website
Instructor: Associate Professor Gillian Heller
Prerequisites: (BCA808 and BCA804) or STAT810
