Introduction to the principals of bioinformatics, which is inherently multidisciplinary. The course consists of lectures, reading assignments, and research projects that concentrate on fundamental concepts of biological sequence information, the interplay between molecular structure and sequence, function, evolutionary relationships, and introduces the basics of genome comparisons, and inferences of physiology based upon metabolic reconstruction.
Although the course does not require extensive computer programming, it covers basic algorithms used, for example, for analyzing sequence similarity focusing on the development of scoring matrices and introduces file manipulation using exercises in the Python language. This course is the foundation course for the OSU Bioinformatics Certificate Program. Here is an example syllabus...
This is a newly re-imagined course that illuminates the basic forces and mechanisms that animate a living cell. How do cells manage to create order out of chaos, how do they adapt to new environments, and how do they find ways to survive and thrive in environmental niches ranging from hot springs, to intestinal tracts, or beneath the Antarctic ice? A good place to start is to understand how organisms acquire and process energy. Organisms require a continuous supply of energy and virtually every cell process ranging from DNA replication to to muscle contraction is powered by bioenergetic processes.
There is a growing realization of surprising roles of cellular energetics in a variety of diseases. Likewise, unexpected connections with phenomena such as antibiotic resistance have been found. The common denominator is often the imbalance between energy production and energy consumption, leading either to energy starvation or toxic intermediates. Moreover, the push for sustainable technologies such as the development of ‘green’ chemicals underlines the need to understand the bioenergetics required for optimal production. All this has led to a renewed interest in cellular energetics. This course explores the principals and mechanisms of energy transduction in plants, animals, and microbial systems.
The course reveals basic common principals on how cells process energy and develops a foundation in core concepts like electron transport, energy metabolism, and ATP production. Along the way, learners will have the opportunity to find connections between different cell lifestyles and strengthen skills such as visualizing cells structures in the computer and learning to compare gene sequences in the framework of how bioenergetic molecules work. The aim is develop an understanding of unifying principals and molecular mechanisms with basic, applied, and clinical significance. The course assumes a good knowledge of the basic concepts taught in Cell & Molecular Biology 3033 and Chemistry 1515.