Online BioInformatics Certificate ← joint prgram (Fayoum & Towson university)

Introduction to the course

Bioinformatics has been defined as the science of examining the structure and function of genes and proteins through the use of computational analysis, statistics, and pattern recognition. A number of recent workforce studies have shown that there is a high current and unmet demand for people trained to various levels of expertise in bioinformatics, from technicians and technical librarians to developers of new and improved methodologies and applications. Bioinformatics is a rapidly evolving and developing field both in terms of breadth of scope of useful applications and in terms of depth of what can be accomplished.

Course Objectives

1. To introduce bioinformatics to graduate students of Biology, Biochemistry, Medicine and Bioengineering having completed their undergraduate degrees.
2. To familialize the students with applications of Bioinformatics conventional software, web-based applications, and software which they download to their machine.
3. To apply well-tested and successful approach of problem-based learning. This ensures students learning through applying the strategies and tools used in bioinformatics to topical problems drawn from ongoing research and applications in a variety of fields. There is to be an integration of the basics of computation and analysis along with Molecular Biology.
4. To prepare students to meet the expected outcomes of having taken this course. The students will have a solid understanding of the scope of bioinformatics. It is expected that the basic knowledge can be applied in many different fields of interest.
5. To allow the students to gain substantial competency in content, skills, and awareness within the field of bioinformatics. Many of the problems presented in the course will serve as launch points for further inquiry and exploration as students move on into other courses.
6. The fields of study in molecular and cell biology continue to grow rapidly. The field of bioinformatics changes so rapidly that it is nearly impossible to keep up with all the different areas of progress.
7. To allow the students to learn how to access new information and how to assimilate it into the whole, in order to continue to learn beyond the limits of this course.
8. To expose the students to the tools and techniques used in research and in applications. The course acts as a base for research and publications.

Course Content

The course is divided into three parts, each part is composed of two units:

Those units are one of the key means of learning how to find and search databases, use a variety of application software, and analyze results. For each unit, there will be a series of summary questions. These questins are posted on this web site under unit execises. Points will be earned for completing the exercises. Grading on these will be lenient; the key point is to learn something in the process of doing them. You will be able to explore while you gain some familiarity of how to find sequences, to make comparisons of sequences, and to locate original literature related to the sequences. You will be shown where and how to continue learning more about bioinformatics beyond the basic introduction given during this course. You will also gain experience which should help you in completing the projects.

Grading and Assesment

Grading in the course will be based on the following activities. See below for an explanation of each.

Assignments must be turned in on time. Exercises will be due by midnight of the lab day. Unit projects are allowed 3 weeks for completion. The dates and access to midterm and final will be announced.

The final grade will be submitted to Fayoum University.

Cheating and plagiarism: This will result in dismissal from class and a failing grade.