Introduction to Bioinformatics

Note: Please address all e-mail questions to bif20306@wur.nl. We cannot guarantee that e-mails sent to individual contact persons will be dealt with adequately and/orin time.
Note: This course can not be combined in an individual programme with PBR34303 Genomics and Bioinformatics.

Over the last decades, a number of technologies to study DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolites and their interactions has been developed. To understand life at the molecular level, they have been applied in numerous biological and biomedical experiments. Much of the resulting data, as well as the knowledge gained in these experiments, are freely available for researchers in the form of computer databases and tools. Analysis and interpretation of experimental data in biology increasingly depends on using these bioinformatics methods efficiently and effectively. In this course, students will be given a broad overview of the field of bioinformatics, with a focus on practical application and interpretation of results from tools used in everyday biological research.

• Describe the most widely used bioinformatics databases and tools, and explain their applicability

• Apply bioinformatics tools to analyze genome, gene and protein sequences, and critically explain the results

• Interpret the results of computational analyses of high-throughput measurement data

• Choose a combination of databases and tools to analyze data resulting from a real-world biological experiment and motivate the choices

• Written test with open questions (60%)
• Assignment report (40%) Group project report. Project report grades for group members can be adjusted by -/+ 1 point w.r.t. the group grade based on peer review of commitment, contribution and communication. A project resit consists of an individual repetition of the entire project on a new data set, to be performed during the next resit period. Reports might be screened for signs of using AI-tools. If unauthorized use of AI-tools is suspected an additional oral exam might be held (pass/fail).

MAT15403 Statistics 2

• All course material (a reader, reading guides, practical guides, walkthroughs, slides) will be provided on BrightSpace. In principle, exam material consists of only indicated parts of the reader and the practicals, all other material is there to support the learning process. A precise overview of all exam material will be provided on BrightSpace.