THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2018/2019

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Informatics : Informatics

Postgraduate Course: Bioinformatics 2 (INFR11005)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Informatics CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryBioinformatics is at the interface between two of the most influential scientific fields. An appreciation of computational and biological sciences, in particular the terminology employed in both fields, is essential for those working at such an interface. In this course, we aim to cover the following:

* The concepts of computer science that relate to problems in biological sciences.
* Commercial and academic perspectives on bioinformatics.
* The impact of bioinformatics on the methodologies used in biological science.
* The influence biological science has on computing science.
Course description The course will cover the following:

* Next generation sequencing technologies
* Machine learning algorithms for sequence analysis
* Computational assembly of genomic sequences
* Gene finding
* Advanced functional genomics, expression analysis
* Industry guest lecture
* The future of bioinformatics: proteomics, neuroinformatics, e-science.

Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Data Structures and Algorithms, Developing Technologies
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed Bioinformatics 1 (INFR11016)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements This course is open to all Informatics students including those on joint degrees. For external students where this course is not listed in your DPT, please seek special permission from the course organiser.

This course assumes some mathematics at the level of undergraduate computer science, including:
- Probability theory, particularly discrete random variables;
- Basic statistics

No specific programming is taught or required, but students should be familiar with using software packages and will be required to use some packages in R for the lab/assignment.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2018/19, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 020, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 76 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 30 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework will be assessed through a mini project exploring a research area of bioinformatics.

You should expect to spend approximately 30 hours on the coursework for this course.

If delivered in semester 1, this course will have an option for semester 1 only visiting undergraduate students, providing assessment prior to the end of the calendar year.
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Describe the main computational algorithms used in the analysis of biological sequences
  2. Discuss the practical limitations of sequence analysis methods and contrast the methods available
  3. Appraise common biological data sources and the key contributing error/noise sources in such data
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of how experimental design in biology is critical to subsequent data analysis and representation in bioinformatics
  5. Critically evaluate research literature in the field
Reading List
Jones N.C. and Pevzner P. (2004) An Introduction to Bioinformatics Algorithms, MIT Press
Additional Information
Course URL http://course.inf.ed.ac.uk/bio2
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Ian Simpson
Tel: (0131 6)50 2747
Email: Ian.Simpson@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Sam Stewart
Tel: (0131 6)51 3266
Email: Sam.Stewart@ed.ac.uk
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