MSc Bioinformatics and Systems Biology / Course details

It introduces students to basic practical molecular sequence and structure analysis techniques, tools and resources (including molecular evolution and phylogeny), and provides an overview of transcriptomics and comparative genomics. Emphasis is given to the application of bioinformatics and computational analysis to problem solving in real research scenarios.

• Understand the complexity of biological systems & molecular functions

• Understand a range of bioinformatics & ‘omics analysis tools, resources & databases

• Understand proteomic, genomic & transcriptomic data-types

• Understand methods of genome sequencing

• Understand & apply methods of genome analysis

• Understand the fundamentals of molecular evolution and phylogeny and apply methods

• Understand pattern-recognition concepts underpinning commonly used analysis tools

• Understand the limitations of current databases & analysis tools

• Understand the importance of synthetic analysis & interpretation of resource outputs

• Gain hands-on experience of practical analysis of biological data

• Gain experience in communicating research findings in a short research ‘paper’.

Sequence Analysis: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33 % weighting;

Genomics: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33% weighting;

Phylogenetics and Structural Biology: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33% weighting.

 

After lectures and workshops, students complete a series of built-in MCQ quizzes that cover all aspects of the sessions. For each MCQ quiz, answers are computed and relayed to the student, with information to indicate how many correct answers were obtained and, if mistakes were made, what the errors were and why. If the scores at the end of a particular quiz are poor, students are recommended to re-visit the relevant sections of the session, to make better use of the background information, and ultimately to re-take the MCQ quiz. . In addition, guidance and advice is given throughout the practical work, and especially on how to write up the results (for which separate hand-outs are also provided).

The following books are recommended:

Higgs, P. & Attwood, T.K. (2005) Bioinformatics & molecular evolution. Blackwell.

Attwood, T.K. & Parry-Smith, D.J. (1999) Introduction to bioinformatics. Pearson Education.

Zvlebil, M. & Baum, J.O. (2007) Understanding Bioinformatics. Garland Science (Optional)